


Best Laid Plans

by orayofsunshine



Category: Anne of Green Gables - L. M. Montgomery, Anne with an E (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Relationships, F/M, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Jerry/Diana, Kid Fic, Mild Smut, Moody/Ruby, Unplanned Pregnancy, nothing too wild
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:20:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 22,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24719671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orayofsunshine/pseuds/orayofsunshine
Summary: Anne and Gilbert have been best friends since middle school, following an unfortunate incident with a library book and a day of out of school suspension. When a drunken game night goes awry and they add a new layer to their relationship, will they really be able to follow through with the whole "nothing has to change" thing?(Spoiler: thats kind of hard to do with a baby on the way)
Relationships: Gilbert Blythe/Anne Shirley
Comments: 65
Kudos: 255





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Woo hoo! I know there's been a lot of kid fics lately, so I thought I would try my hand at it! I hope you like it!

Sometimes Anne needed to be reminded that she wasn’t in college anymore. She was an adult, with responsibilities and three years removed from her days of staying up too late and drinking too much. 

Nothing reminded her of her age more than a game night with her friends. They were rare, due to their hectic schedules and the weird hours they kept, but when they did happen she always ended up with a killer hangover and a long list of regrets. 

It just so happened that one of her biggest and best regrets came from one such game night. 

Anne wasn’t sure what to expect when she pulled up to Ruby and Moody’s house, finding herself seemingly to be the last one to arrive. It seemed like every game night brought its own set of surprises, and so she didn’t even try and predict where the night would lead her as she took her keys out of the ignition and started up the driveway to the house. 

She was barely in the door before she was met by a round of cheers from her friends, a shot practically being poured down her throat by Gilbert. 

“You’re late, time to catch up with the rest of us, Carrots!” He laughed, shoving another shot glass into her hand before she had even swallowed the first one. She coughed as she swallowed the liquid- _whiskey, that bastard. He knows I hate this-_ before throwing back the second one without complaint before sending the man a dirty look. 

“You’re a terrible friend, if you’re going to meet me at the door with a drink, couldn’t it have been something that I actually enjoy drinking?” She asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “And I thought I told you years ago to _stop calling me Carrots_.” 

“I don’t know, I think I suffered head trauma from the book you knocked me with and forgot all about that. Keep reminding me and maybe it’ll stick eventually.” Gilbert teased, throwing her a wink before pulling her into the living room. 

She merely rolled her eyes, pinching his arm in response to him being a smart ass as they joined the rest of their friends. Anne was thankful for the glass of wine she was offered as she sat, taking a big sip of the sweet drink to wash out the lingering taste of whiskey in her mouth. 

“Now that the dynamic duo have arrived, I guess we can finally start!” Moody said, pulling out a deck of cards for some sort of drinking game. Anne simply smiled, trading a playful look with Gilbert before turning her attention to the game at hand. 

While Diana would always hold the position of “best friend” in her life, she couldn’t deny the fact that Gilbert Blythe was a close second. Though he frequently annoyed the shit out of her, and she regularly smacked him for some idiotic comment, they were kindred spirits through and through, and had been since they met. She had been in Avonlea for a few months and was still struggling to fit in when Gilbert arrived, a new kid just like her. They first met in the principal’s office of their school, and Anne had been horrified at the thought of being in trouble that she nearly cried. 

“I promise I really did nothing this time, Ms. Stacey, it was all Billy Andrews’ fault! I swear!” She said frantically as she marched into the office, blue eyes glistening with tears. The principal, who had become very well acquainted with the redhead since her arrival at the school, simply gave her an amused look before holding up a hand to stop her fussing. 

“You aren’t in trouble this time, Miss Cuthbert.” She assured the girl. “Even though I will say I’m curious to know what you were talking about just now…” 

“Nothing!” Anne said quickly, wiping her tears quickly on the sleeve of her sweater. “Absolutely nothing, Ms. Stacey! Nothing at all to worry about, nope!” 

The older woman simply raised her eyebrow, showing that she didn’t quite believe what the girl was telling her, but deciding to let it go regardless. 

“Anyways, I called you in here because I wanted you to meet Mr. Blythe, he’s a few grades ahead of you, but he’s new, just like you.” Ms. Stacey said, and for the first time since entering the office, Anne realized that she was not alone. Sitting in the chair across from the kind principal was a boy, looking a little too gangly and pimply for his own good. 

“Hi?” He said, looking back and forth between her and Ms. Stacey. Sensing the confusion from both parties, the older woman cleared her throat to explain herself. 

“Anne, Gilbert here was just adopted by Bash and Mary Lacroix, have you met them yet?” Ms. Stacey asked, and Anne simply shook her head before turning to the boy, looking him up and down. 

“How old are you?” She asked bluntly, and his eyebrows furrowed, taken aback by the seemingly random question. 

“I’ll be fourteen in November.” He said simply, and Anne nodded once. 

“You’re lucky,” She said, crossing her arms. “People don’t usually want teenagers, we come with too many problems according to most. I’m eleven, which is still much too old for a lot of people, but the Cuthberts still adopted me even though the matron warned them that I’m temperamental. Most people want babies, so you were lucky.” 

“So… you’re adopted as well?” He asked hesitantly, feeling unsure as he glanced back and forth between the redhead and his new principal. 

“Mhm.” Anne replied with a nod. “My parents died when I was three months old, and I was in the system up until I got adopted. I wish I had been adopted as a baby, but I guess I was ugly and pale and no one wanted me. Why pick me when there are so many cuter babies to pick from? Anyways, how long were you in for?” 

Gilbert said nothing and instead shifted nervously in his seat, tugging at the collar of his shirt. Thankfully, Ms. Stacey saved him by carefully clearing her throat. 

“Anne, remember the conversation we had last week about personal questions?” She reminded gently, and Anne felt herself blush. 

“Not everyone is as open as I am.” She said slowly, almost as if she was reciting it, and Ms. Stacey nodded with a small smile on her face. 

“Very good,” She said. “I thought since you two have something in common, both being new to the school and all, that perhaps it would be nice to have a friend with a similar experience. So, now you have another familiar face. Sound good?” She said, and with a nod from both students, they were dismissed. 

The two walked together in silence, and Anne stopped in her tracks when they arrived at the sixth grade hallway. 

“I didn’t mean to push,” She apologized, feeling guilty for making him feel awkward. “I forget that not everyone is like me.” 

“It’s okay, you didn’t mean it.” He said simply, shoving his hands in his pockets. And with that he was gone, taking off towards the eighth grade hall, leaving Anne to wonder what had just happened. 

A few weeks passed before Anne ran into Gilbert again, this time in the library. 

“Hello again.” She said, coming up beside him in the stacks. “What are you looking at?” 

“Just some science books, nothing important.” He said simply, sliding a book back onto the shelf before Anne could get a glimpse of it. “What are you doing here?” 

“I finished my work early, so Mr. Philips sent me here to get a book. I don’t think he likes me very much.” She said, turning to the shelf and browsing some of the titles. She turned her nose up to most of them, not a fan of non-fiction literature. 

“I’ve heard he’s an asshole.” Gilbert said bluntly, and Anne gasped, eyes going wide at the swear word. 

“Stop that! We’ll get into trouble!” She hissed, and Gilbert laughed. 

“What? Isn’t it the truth?” He said, raising an eyebrow at her, and Anne bit down on her bottom lip, thinking on it for a second before nodding. “Alright then, say it.” 

“Say what?” She countered, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“That Mr. Philips is an asshole.” He prompted, mirroring her position. 

“No!” She said. “That’s a horrible thing to say, even if it is true!” 

With that she huffed and turned away from him, pulling out a thick book on insects, pretending to be interested in the tome as Gilbert chuckled beside her. 

“Ah, come on Carrots, I was only kidding.” He said, tugging lightly on the end of her braid to get her attention. With an offended gasp, Anne rounded on him, whacking him in the head with the book as hard as she could. 

“The only asshole here is you, Gilbert Blythe!” She shouted, only to regret the action a moment later when the librarian stormed over to them, a stormy look in her eye. 

That was how Anne met the Lacroix’s for the first time, sitting sheepishly in Ms. Stacey’s office beside Gilbert once again, this time with the older boy holding an ice pack to the goose egg that had formed on his temple. 

After her little outburst in the library, Anne had promptly been sent to the office while Gilbert had been directed to the nurse, and then the two reconvened for a meeting with Ms. Stacey when their guardians arrived. Marilla was not pleased to be at the school once again, and the kind couple with Gilbert looked almost amused as the story was recounded to them. 

“Anne, I’m going to give you a one day out of school suspension for this, I’m afraid to say. There is a zero tolerance policy for physical violence here.” Ms. Stacey said, eyes filled with regret for doling out such a punishment. 

“Trust me, she will also be receiving discipline at home for this incident, as well. We are trying to raise her to be better than such foolishness, but it seems like she still has a lot to learn.” Marilla said sternly, and Anne sunk deeper into her seat. Couldn’t Matthew have come instead? He was always nicer than Marilla was. 

“But Ms. Stacey,” Gilbert interjected, leaning forward in his seat. “I’m fine, and I provoked her first. I pulled her hair and called her a name, shouldn’t I be punished as well? I used physical violence first, if you want to be technical about it.” 

That was how the two of them ended up in OSS together, and Anne was surprised when Gilbert showed up at her door early the morning they were suspended, hands shoved deep into his pockets. 

“Did you know we’re kind of neighbors?” He asked, and Anne just looked at him like he had grown a second head. 

“Really?” She said skeptically, and he nodded. 

“Bash and Mary own the apple orchard on the next plot of land over. It only takes a few minutes to walk there.” He said, looking slightly nervous. “Do you wanna see?” 

A few minutes later the two were off, marching across the Cuthbert farm and into the Lacroix orchard. Anne marveled at the rows and rows of immaculate trees, the leaves every shade of yellow, orange, and red possible. 

“This is incredible, Gilbert!” She gasped, sitting down at the base of a tree and tilting her head backwards. “Oh, it provides such scope for the imagination, can we stay here all morning?” 

He simply nodded and settled down beside her, letting her ramble on and on about how there was surely magic embedded in the very soil of such a beautiful place. Eventually she talked herself out, and the two sat in silence for a while before Gilbert cleared his throat. 

“My mom died when I was born.” He said, looking anywhere but her, his jaw tight. “And my dad died four months ago, from cancer.” 

Anne was sobered at his confession, heart hurting for the boy. “I’m sorry.” 

“It sucks.” He said simply. “A lot.” 

“I’m sure it does.” Anne said, choosing to stay silent to let Gilbert speak if he wanted to. 

“Bash was an old family friend, I had no one else, so right before my dad died he called in a favor, so to speak. So I was only really in the system long enough for the paperwork to be finalized, then I came here.” He explained, picking at the dirt underneath his fingernails. Even though boys were still kind of gross, Anne couldn’t help but reach out and take his hand in hers, fighting the blush that spread across her face at the bold action. Gilbert looked over at her, raising an eyebrow at her, and she quickly dropped his hand as if the touch had burned her. 

“Sorry.” She muttered, embarrassed by what she had done. 

“It’s okay, I get what you were trying to do.” He said, brushing off her concern. 

“You’re lucky though.” She said once her blush faded away. “At least you got to know your dad, I don’t remember my parents at all. It’s almost like they were never even there.” She said, heart heavy with her words. Gilbert chuckled bitterly. 

“Well at least you didn’t have to watch them die, I would say you’re the lucky one here.” He said, voice dark. Anne hummed, nodding thoughtfully. I guess they were two sides of the same coin, always wanting what the other had. 

“Do you want to know who the real asshole is?” Anne said after a while, the bad word still feeling foreign in her mouth. Gilbert chuckled, looking over at her with an eyebrow raised.

“Who?” He asked curiously

“Life.” Anne said, crossing her arms over her chest with a huff. “The ultimate asshole.” 

Gilbert laughed then, a real belly laugh that made Anne’s belly flip and flop in a weird way, and she couldn’t help but join in with his laughter, the sounds echoing through the orchard as the leaves continued to fall around them. 

After that day, the two were practically inseparable and thick as thieves, seeking out mischief wherever they could find it. They gave both of their parents a run for their money, and it wasn’t uncommon for the two to be grounded and banned from seeing each other after a poorly thought out stunt gone wrong. Gilbert was the one she went to after her first kiss with Charlie Sloane, and endured all of her ranting and raving about how terrible and unromantic it was, and he took her to prom both years, and when Roy Gardner stood her up for her Junior prom, Gilbert was the one who drove home from Redmond without a second thought to make sure his best friend was alright, and the two spent the night in the orchard, Anne crying and cursing his name while Gilbert just sat and listened. She cried like a baby when Gilbert went off to college, leaving her all alone (which wasn’t true, she had plenty of friends, but they weren’t Gilbert.) and when she graduated two years later, she had the leg up on all of the other freshman at Redmond with Gilbert by her side, showing her all the best study spots (and bars) in town. 

It almost seemed like fate that the two, along with all of their other friends, would all end up back in Avonlea, and Anne was thankful for it. It had been thirteen years since she had been adopted, and she wouldn’t trade the life she had found there for anything in the world. 

That is, when her friends weren’t being absolute dicks, of course. 

Due to the two shots, several glasses of wine, and beer she had been forced to shotgun after losing a hand of cards, Anne was well and truly drunk along with the rest of her friends by the time Tillie suggested truth or dare, empty beer cans and rapidly depleting bottles of liquor littering every available surface as the rest of the group groaned at her suggestion. 

“What are we, fifteen?” Josie said snarkily. 

“Come on guys, it’s a fun game!” Tillie argued, crossing her arms over her chest, a splash of her vodka soda sloshing out of her cup. 

“We’re too damn old to play that!” Paul argued, and Tillie just rolled her eyes at him. 

“I think it could be fun.” Ruby said. “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” 

Anne snorted into her glass, _isn’t that the question of the hour._

Despite everyone’s best judgement, the game started soon after, and when the first dare was for Diana to spend the rest of the night in her underwear, Anne knew that they were in for an interesting night. The game only got worse from there, which may or may not have involved streaking, Jane being asked who she thought the best and worst people in bed would be (Charlie for worst, herself for best), someone drinking a King Cup, and Moody wearing Ruby’s lingerie. But just when Anne thought things were as awful as they could get, her asshole friends had to prove her wrong. 

“Gilbert, truth or dare?” Josie asked, and a mischievous grin broke out across her face when he answered with truth. “Alright then, have you and Anne ever had sex?” 

“What?” Gilbert said, recoiling at the shock of the question. The rest of their friends laughed at his reaction, and Anne nearly spilled her wine as her head whipped around to look at Gilbert with wide eyes. He looked back at her, a look of disgust on his face, sputtering slightly before he answered. “No! Of course not!” 

“Color me surprised.” Josie said indifferently, taking a sip from her drink as the rest of the group nodded in agreement. 

“What does that mean? Did all of you think we had slept together?” Anne asked, her eyes comically wide and her face a vivid shade of red as everyone nodded in affirmation, even Diana. 

“I’m surprised, honestly.” Jane chimed in. “I mean, didn’t you guys kiss in high school?”

“We were drunk and it was after Gilbert’s last prom! That was what, eight years ago? That’s practically a decade!” Anne explained quickly, hating the fact that even after so many years the topic was still being brought up. Their friends just laughed at their suffering, and Anne just wished she could have punched them all. 

“And in the past it shall remain, let’s just move on.” Gilbert cut in loudly, cheeks flushed, and Anne wasn’t sure if it was from the whiskey he had been drinking or embarrassment. 

Anne thought the subject had been dropped, but she was not so lucky, and she should have known better than to choose dare when it was Jane on the other end of it. 

“You and Gilbert, 7 minutes in Heaven.” She said, a smug smile on her face as the rest of the group “ooh”ed and laughed. 

“For fuck’s sake, Jane! Really?” Anne cried, throwing her hands in the air. 

“What! You kissed him drunk before, why not now?” She shot back, and Anne just huffed, squealing a moment later when she was hauled to her feet. 

“Come on, you know they’re not going to let it go.” Gilbert grumbled, hauling her towards the hall bathroom, ignoring their friend’s jeers and comments as they went. 

Anne was a flustered mess when the door was shut behind them, and she cringed when she looked in the mirror at just how rumpled and embarrassed she looked. She turned her head upwards to look at Gilbert, words escaping her when her eyes met his. 

“We don’t have to do anything. We can just camp out here until the time is up.” He said, shoving his hands in his pockets. Anne just nodded. 

“Yeah, I’d probably be a terrible kisser anyways, it’s been a while.” She said with a laugh. Gilbert nodded in agreement, a grin breaking out across his face. 

“Me too.” He said, and the two of them broke out into drunken laughter. 

“If I remember correctly, you weren’t so bad at 18.” She giggled, and he raised an eyebrow up at her. 

“Really?” He said, and she nodded. “Well you weren’t awful either.” 

“Has it really been ten years? Imagine how terrible we could be now with so little experience between now and then.” Anne said, thinking back to Gilbert’s senior prom and the spiked fruit punch they had way too much of. 

“Well,” Gilbert started after a second. “We’re drunk again, so I think the conditions are as perfect as they could ever be. To you know, test that theory. For science, of course.” 

Anne raised an eyebrow at him, crossing her arms over her chest. “Are you really suggesting that we make out again?” 

Gilbert shrugged. “Why not?” 

Anne could have put more thought into it, but she was drunk and it was just _Gilbert_ who was her best guy friend by far, so without too much pondering she nodded.

“What the hell, right?” 

And with that Gilbert was wrapping an arm around her waist, stepping forward into her space until her back was pressed against the wall, and then his lips were on hers. 

It was nothing like she remembered as a sixteen year old. Despite the fact that they had joked about being sloppy and inexperienced now, she quickly discovered that it was the opposite. Gilbert was a downright excellent kisser, and she couldn’t help but run her fingers through his hair, locking them in the dark curls to anchor them together. She couldn’t help but gasp into his mouth, pulling his bottom lip in between her teeth as his hands ran up and down her back before sliding lower to grab her backside. 

“You’ve got a killer ass, Anne. Have I ever told you that?” He groaned into her mouth, and her whole body felt as if it were on fire as his words registered in her brain. She moaned quietly, the (albeit small) part of her brain that was still capable of rational thought reminding her that all of her friends were probably sitting right outside the door, listening for any clues as to what was happening. 

“Never worded like that, per se.” Anne replied, chin tilting upwards as he began blazing a trail down her neck, pulling the neck of her sweater down to kiss her neck and collarbones. She wasn’t lying, the two had been friends for long enough and were comfortable enough with the other to have admitted that objectively, the other was attractive (not that they cared, of course because that would just be weird) and she had fielding quite a few comments from Gilbert on her backside. But it never was anything more than “you’ve got a cute butt”, so hearing him appreciate her finer assets in such an unrestrained way had Anne feeling much warmer than she was comfortable with. 

With Gilbert feeling her up without restraint, Anne decided to follow suit and ran a hand underneath the hem of his shirt, ghosting her fingers over the skin of his abdomen. She gasped quietly as his lips found hers again, drawing her back into a searing kiss that had her toes curling.

She kept her hand splayed across his stomach as he pulled her closer, sliding his hand over her ass to grab her thigh, using his grip to draw her leg up and around his hip. 

It was in the exact moment that their hips met that there was also a loud knock on the door, followed by Jane shouting that their time was up. Anne swore quietly, frozen with her arms locked around Gilbert’s neck and her leg thrown over his hip.

“It’s my turn, right?” Anne shouted back, feeling Gilbert’s grip tighten slightly. 

“Yeah, so get your ass out here!” 

Anne bit her lip, glancing up at Gilbert. His eyes were dark and blown wide as he stared down at her, lips red and chest heaving slightly, hair a tousled mess from where she had raked her fingers through it. Her breath caught in her chest, and without skipping a beat she cleared her throat and loudly asked- 

“Gilbert, truth or dare?” 

He smirked down at her, leaning her back further into the wall and pressing their bodies together completely. 

“Dare.” He answered, just as loud as she had asked. 

“I dare you to play 7 minutes in Heaven with me.” She said, and the pair didn’t even register their friends groaning on the other side of the door before their lips were pressed together again, picking up right where they had left off. 

Their friends gave them the ribbing of a lifetime when they finally emerged from the bathroom much longer than seven minutes later, faces flushed and lips swollen, and the pair simply ignored them as they took their places in the circle once more. 

“Have fun in there?” Moody asked, raising an eyebrow at the two of them. 

“It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever done.” Gilbert answered with a shrug. Anne rolled her eyes at him, hiding her smile behind her glass of wine as the game went on. 

As the night came to a close, Anne hugged everyone goodbye and stumbled out of the house, clutching onto Gilbert’s arm to keep her steady as they made their way down to where the uber was at the bottom of the driveway. While it wasn’t the least bit uncommon for Anne to spend the night with Gilbert or vice versa, that night unbeknownst to them their friends were watching from the window, silently placing bets on where the night would lead. 

Still, the pair was not privy to what their friends were doing, and after clamoring into the car that was waiting for them, Anne settled into the middle seat next to Gilbert, rather than sliding to the other side. He grinned down at her, wrapping an arm around her to hold her steady as the car took off down the road. 

Since their little makeout in the bathroom a heavy sort of tension had settled over them, the air between them crackling with electricity that was begging to be channeled. Anne bit her lip, looking up at Gilbert. She was surprised to find him looking down at her, and her breath caught in her throat when their eyes met, her gaze flickering down to his lips. One corner of his mouth quirked upwards in a grin, and then he was using his arm that was around her shoulders to pull her in, his free hand catching her chin and guiding his mouth to hers once more. She sighed into the kiss, cupping his jaw as their lips moved against each other’s, heart thundering in her chest as they kissed unashamedly. 

Anne wasn’t sure what had taken hold of her, maybe it was the cocktail of different liquors dancing through her bloodstream, or the dry spell that had taken hold of her love life as of late, but whatever the reason she couldn’t take her hands off of Gilbert even if she wanted to. She had never been one for public displays of affection, let alone making out in the back of a cab, but there was something about the way Gilbert was holding her that made her unable to stop or care at all. 

They did have to stop though, much to Anne’s disappointment, when they pulled up to Gilbert’s place and their uber driver cleared his throat loudly, forcing the two to break apart. Anne blushed, realizing just how little control she had over herself in that moment. The two crawled out of the car, awkwardly thanking their driver, and Gilbert absentmindedly said something about a good tip headed his way before closing the door and making a beeline towards his front door. 

Once inside, Anne was at a loss. Usually, Anne would stumble through the house, headed either to the kitchen to raid Gilbert’s pantry for a late night snack or to his room to steal some clothes to change into before passing out next to him. Now, she stalled on making a decision and stood in the front hallway, arms crossed over herself as she worried at her bottom lip. 

“Earlier tonight was…” She started, trailing off and at a total loss for words for the first time in her life.

“Hot.” Gilbert answered without hesitation. “Tonight was hot.” 

Anne blushed at how bluntly he phrased exactly what she was thinking, and she smiled up at him with a nod, all too aware of his gaze on her as she cleared her throat, coming to terms with the fact that she and her best friend for over a decade might have discovered something about themselves. 

“Gilbert,” She said, making a decision that she would later blame on the liquor. “I think you and I could have some really, really good sex together.” 

At her comment Gilbert exhaled sharply, mumbling “fuck” under his breath before he was stepping forward into her space, scooping her up into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist. She squealed at the sudden action, wrapping her legs around his waist as his lips met hers in a bruising kiss, and something told her that he agreed with her as he carried her off through his dark house, kicking his bedroom door shut behind them. 

(And then he proved that her assumption was very, very correct.) 

____________

“Okay, but did you and Gilbert like, immediately have sex after the game night or did you two have to think on it for a few days?” Jane asked bluntly, dipping her fries into her milkshake as they sat around the same circle booth they had been sitting in since highschool at the local diner. It had been a little over a week since that fateful night, and Anne had not seen any of her friends since, and she should have known that when a girl’s night at the diner was suggested that she would be the topic of interest for the night. 

Anne blanched even though she shouldn’t have, knowing that Jane was never one to beat around the bush about anything. 

“What makes you think we had sex?” Anne said defensively, trying to remain casual as she took a bite of her cheeseburger. She used the food as an excuse to delay the inevitable, and she blushed when all of her friends, including Diana, rolled her eyes at her. 

“Gilbert practically had a neon sign that said ‘I want to fuck Anne Cuthbert’ flashing over his head after you two left the bathroom.” Tillie said, and Anne wished that she hadn’t taken such a big bite so she could defend herself and deny the claim. 

“Come on Anne, stop playing dumb and just answer the damn question. We know you got dicked down, and I have money riding on the timeline.” Jane said, sick of the reindeer games. Anne blushed, absolutely mortified as she swallowed. 

“First,” She said. “I would like to say that you are terrible friends for betting on me. Second, if you make fun of me for this I will leave and give you all the silent treatment for being assholes. And that being said: third, we did it that night. Happy now?” 

“Yes!” Josie shouted victoriously, leaning across the table to high five Jane and Diana as Tillie and Ruby huffed. 

“Damn it Anne, couldn’t you have kept in your pants?” Tillie complained.

Anne ignored her comment, instead turning to look at her best friend. “Seriously Diana? You too?” She said, narrowing her eyes at the traitor. She at least had the decency to look embarrassed as she flicked her hair over her shoulder, shrugging sheepishly. 

“You’re my friend and I love you dearly, but I had to place my money on the choice that I thought was more likely.” She explained, and before Anne could complain about it Ruby was clearing her throat. 

“Follow up question, was it a one night stand?” She asked, and Anne blushed, stomach twisting as she thought of the conversation she and Gilbert had the morning after. 

She had woken up overly warm and shrouded with the mental fog that always followed a night of drinking, her head pounding as she groaned, rolling over and huffing when she bumped into Gilbert. 

“Move.” She huffed grumpily, drawing up her legs and using her feet to push him away from her. He chuckled, the sound rougher from sleep as he obliged her request. She felt him slide out of bed, and a few minutes later he returned with toast and a glass of water, setting it down on the bedside table closer to her before crawling back into bed. Her stomach lurched at the thought of eating anything in the state she was in, but she knew from experience that the sooner she put something in her stomach the quicker she would stop feeling like death warmed over and begin feeling like a human once more. She groaned loudly as she sat up, swearing under her breath as she grabbed the plate of toast, nibbling at the corner. 

“You look like hell.” Gilbert commented from where he was laying beside her, and she spared him a glance, taking in his bare chest in a way she hadn’t before, quickly averting her eyes and throwing up her middle finger in lieu of a response. 

“I feel like hell.” She answered, hoping that he hadn’t seen how quickly she looked away. 

Apparently luck was not on her side, and Gilbert sat up, snatching the second piece of toast from the plate and taking a bite. 

“So,” He said casually, as if it were everyday that you wake up realizing that you drunkenly slept with your best friend of over a decade. “Last night was something else, wasn’t it?” 

Anne snorted, taking a few long gulps from the glass of water to delay her answer. When she couldn’t put it off any longer she shrugged nonchalantly, sparing him another glance. “It wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever done.” 

Gilbert laughed at that, throwing his head back, and she punched him in the arm for daring to make such a loud noise when her hangover was still so awful.

“Sorry, sorry.” He apologized, still chuckling. “I just wanted to make sure you didn’t regret it, or anything. I know we weren’t thinking as clearly as we could have been, and I don’t want things to be weird.” 

Anne shook her head. “Why would things be weird? We were drunk and worked up, we had sex, and now everything’s chill. We were both consenting adults, so I don’t see a problem with it.” 

Gilbert nodded in agreement, pondering something as he took another bite from his toast. After a few minutes of silence he looked up at her, a strange look on his face. 

“Do you want to do it again?” He asked, and she snorted. 

“I almost barfed everywhere just trying to sit up, anything more rigorous than sedentary actions are off of the table at the moment, I’m afraid to say.” She said lightly, trying to hide the fact that his question had thrown her off so much. It was one thing to sleep together when they were drunk and horny, and another thing for it to be suggested when they were sober in the daylight. 

Gilbert rolled his eyes at her answer, as if he knew that she had avoided the question.

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” He said. “Like, what if we just did it again sometime, like you said, when we’re both worked up.” 

“You want us to be fuck buddies.” Anne said bluntly, and she received a humorless snort in response. 

“You’re hilarious.” He said flatly. “No, we wouldn’t be fuck buddies. We’d just be...us. Like we’ve always been.” 

“Except now we’d screw around whenever we feel like it.” She said, raising an eyebrow at him. He shrugged. 

“Why not? That was the best sex of my entire life, and judging from how loud you were-” She punched him again, blushing furiously as Gilbert laughed, rubbing his arm. “What! It was just an observation that you’re a screamer-” Another punch. “Fine, fine. I won’t make comments anymore. My point, before I was so rudely interrupted, is that we obviously both enjoyed last night, why would we stop?” 

Anne thought about the proposition for a minute, nibbling on her toast to fill the awkward silence. He was right in his observations, he had rocked her world the night before, and the idea of getting to do it again (and again...and again) sounded very appealing. What was the worst thing that could happen? 

“Alright, let’s keep this going then.” 

Anne blamed it on their dry spells, but in the week since they had come to their little agreement, they had been absolute animals. She was almost embarrassed by it, that Gilbert had gotten her in just about every position he could have whenever they had seen each other that week, but then on the other hand, she was a grown ass woman who could do whatever and whoever she wanted to and she wasn’t going to be shamed for it. 

With that thought in mind she held her chin up and answered Ruby’s question. “No, it wasn’t.” 

“Shit!” Tillie swore, earning a dirty glare from an older gentleman a booth over as Jane, Josie and Ruby high fived once more. “Come on Anne! Why do you have to be such a whore?” 

“I resent that statement, I am not a whore for enjoying good sex. Gilbert’s fantastic in bed, can you blame me?” She defended, earning a mischievous look from all of her friends. 

“Well, are you going to leave us hanging or are you going to give us details?” Diana asked, raising an eyebrow at her, and Anne rolled her eyes. 

“Guys, it’s _Gilbert_. Do you really want to know what he’s like?” She asked, and was met with five nods of affirmation, and she could only roll her eyes. 

“Fine.” Anne huffed. “He’s an incredible kisser, he goes down on me without me asking him to, it should be criminal how perfect his technique is and he always makes sure I finish at least once. Happy?” 

“What’s he working with under the belt?” Jane asked, and Anne snorted, holding her hands out to give an approximate size. 

“Kudos.” Jane said with a satisfied nod, raising her milkshake up to Anne. 

“Alright alright, you know how big his dick is, so I think we can move on.” She huffed, giving her friends a dirty glare as they tittered. “Unless you want to share what Moody’s slugging around, Ruby? And Diana, what’s Jerry packing?” 

Without hesitation the two girls held their hands out the way Anne had, and she found herself nodding appreciatively. 

“Kudos.” She said, just as Jane had, and with that she turned the conversation to something else, hoping that her all mentions of her sex life were off the table. 

Really though, her friends could try and tease her all they wanted to, and she didn’t care. Sure, she and Gilbert were sleeping together, but they were still best friends, just as they always had been. What was the worst thing that could happen? 

  
  



	2. Two

The thing about good sex is that when you’re having it, all semblance of rational thought goes out the window. And when rational thought is gone, trouble has a way of taking its place.

Anne should have known after the first time she slept with Gilbert that it needed to stop, that nothing good could come from it. It should have been a one and done sort of deal, but after having her world thoroughly rocked by her best friend, she couldn’t help but go back for more. So they kept sleeping together. Frequently. 

And as previously mentioned, rational thought flies out the window when good sex is being had, and one gets lost in the moment and says stupid things. Like when Gilbert leaned down, voice low as he thrusted into her hard and fast and mumbled, “God, I want to take the condom off so bad” Anne didn’t even stop to think about how terrible of an idea it was. She was too lost in the feeling of him moving inside of her that she hardly registered the nod that she gave him, raking her nails down his back when he reentered her, biting down on her shoulder at the feeling of them joined together with nothing between them. Then when the time came, he pulled out and spilled himself across her stomach with a low groan. She kissed him through his orgasm, their chests heaving with exertion as he exhaled slowly. 

“That was close.” He said, resting his forehead against hers. 

“You timed it right though, didn’t you?” She asked, her chest heaving slightly with exertion from what they had just done. 

Gilbert simply nodded, rolling off of her to reach blindly for the box of tissues on his bedside table, lazily wiping her stomach off before tossing the tissues and discarded condom in the trash can. Clean up taken care of, he settled down next to her on his bed, pulling his quilt over them. “We shouldn’t do that again.” He said once he caught his breath, and she nodded in agreement. She had liked it, took her birth control religiously, and she knew that Gilbert was clean so it wasn’t even STD’s she was worried about, but still, it wasn’t a smart choice, so she breathed out a quick, “yeah” and left it at that. 

In the moment, it was what she had wanted. _Dear God,_ it was what she had wanted. And even though she could look back on it and say that it wasn’t the best decision they could have made, she still couldn’t find it in herself to regret choosing to feel all of him in that moment. 

That is, she didn’t regret it until she was looking down at a positive pregnancy test, damning Gilbert Blythe to hell for clouding her judgement with great sex. 

She shouldn’t have trusted him when he said he had timed it right, even if he was convinced he had. Mary had told her when she was fourteen and still disgusted by sex and boys that pulling out was a terrible idea and to never trust a boy’s ability to do it right. _Boys are bad at math, Anne. Always remember that._ She had said, making Anne blush and pray that the conversation Marilla had asked Mary to have with her would be over soon. In the moment she had just nodded and promised that she wouldn’t forget her warning, hoping it would move the conversation along. Now, staring down at the damning pregnancy test in her shaking hands, she wished she had heeded Mary’s advice. 

_Yeah,_ She thought bitterly. _Boys_ _are_ _bad at math. Even Gilbert fucking Blythe._

Her rage simmered within her as she spared a glance at the clock and realized Gilbert was due to be off work soon, and with that in mind she grabbed her car keys and the pregnancy test, all of her judgement flying out the window as she sped off towards the hospital. She didn’t have to wait long, leaning against her car in the humid evening air as she waited for him to walk out of the hospital. 

The second she saw his familiar mop of curls walking out of the building, blessedly alone, she pushed herself away from her car and started stomping towards him. He looked alarmed to see her, as he should have been, and his eyebrows knitted together in worry as he called out to her. 

“Anne? Is everything alright-” 

“I hope it was worth it!” She shouted as she got closer, chucking the pregnancy test at him, and she felt only a small twinge of satisfaction when it hit him square in the chest before bouncing off and clattering to the pavement. “Because your two minutes of unprotected sex just got you eighteen years of child support, congratulations!” 

“Hey!” He said indignantly, her meaning not yet dawning on him. “I definitely lasted longer than two minutes…” 

It was then that he picked up the object that had hit him, the plus sign mocking him as he looked down at it in horror before his gaze shot upwards to look at Anne. 

“Are you being serious right now? Because this isn’t funny.” He said slowly, his blood turning to ice in his veins. Anne laughed bitterly, crossing her arms over her chest as she shook her head. 

“Not a joke, Mr. ‘I timed it right.’. Your lifelong dream of being my baby daddy has now manifested itself into existence, I hope you’re happy.” She huffed bitterly. Gilbert just stared blankly at her, just as shocked as Anne was, yet struggling to process it. 

“I’ve been working for twelve hours.” He said slowly, mind spinning with the thought of his impending fatherhood. “Can we go sit down somewhere?” 

With that the two got into their cars and headed off towards the diner, and they didn’t say anything about the baby until their meals were in front of them, and only once Gilbert had inhaled half of his burger did he speak. 

“How long have you known?” He asked, and Anne shrugged. 

“Officially, about an hour longer than you. Unofficially? I had some suspicions starting a few days ago and only had the stones to actually take a test today.” She explained, dunking her fries into her milkshake before shoving them in her mouth. Gilbert nodded. 

“So what are you going to do?” He asked. 

That was something she hadn’t pondered quite yet, and frankly, she was too scared to. There were so many questions to sort through and designate an answer to. Did she want to keep the baby? She was thankful that adoption was firmly out of her mind already and one less thing to think about, she knew that she couldn’t give it up for adoption, not after being in the system herself. She wouldn’t dream of subjecting her child to such a fate....But could she get an abortion? She had always been a staunch supporter of women’s ability to make choices for their own bodies, but now that she was presented with such a choice she wasn’t sure what she would do. And even if she did keep the baby, what would her co-workers think? What would her _students_ think? Dear God, what would her student’s _parents_ think? Everyone in her life knew that she was hopelessly single, and even though it was 2020 she would still earn herself quite a reputation when the news broke. What did Gilbert think about it? Was he ready to be a father? Would he stick around if she did decide to keep it? She liked to think that he would, but he was just as blindsided by the turn of events as she was, so there was no telling what was going through his head. There were so many things to think about, and her mind was already swimming with questions that she didn’t have the answer to, and the nausea that had set in with a vengeance every waking hour of the day wasn’t helping much, either. 

“I think I’m going to be sick.” She said sharply, darting up from her seat and making a beeline to the bathroom, the chili dog she had already wolfed down making a reappearance as she hunched over the toilet bowl. 

Gilbert was quick to grab her hair, not caring that he had barged into the women’s restroom after her as he rubbed her back gently while she continued to retch. She would probably cuss him later out for doing something so stupid when her stomach wasn’t actively inverting itself, so she allowed it for the time being. 

Once she peeled herself off from the bathroom floor, Gilbert offered her a weak smile as he flushed the toilet for her, and walked out of the stall to find a very confused looking older woman at the sink. Anne just sighed as she saddled up next to her at the sink. 

“I’m pregnant. He’s overly concerned.” She said flatly, and Gilbert couldn’t help but laugh as the woman’s expression changed from thinly veiled judgement to excitement. 

“Oh, I completely understand.” She tittered, reaching over to pat Anne’s hand lightly. “Let me give you some advice: if he offers to do something for you, take advantage of it.” 

Anne smiled, looking up into the mirror to catch Gilbert’s eye as he stood behind her. 

“I’ll keep that in mind.” She said, giving him a small smile as she finished washing her hands and followed him out of the restroom. 

“So I take it that vomiting at the mention of a plan moving forward means you have no idea what you want to do.” Gilbert said bluntly as they took their spots at the booth again, lifting an eyebrow in question as she took a sip of her water to rinse the foul taste from her mouth. 

“Correct.” 

Gilbert nodded, taking a bite from his burger, chewing slowly as he thought on a response. 

“Well, I’ll do whatever you want to do. It’s your choice, ultimately.” He said with a shrug. 

“I know that,” Anne said with a roll of her eyes before settling her gaze on him once more. “But you must have an opinion about all of this.” 

He shrugged again. “I do, but I’m choosing to withhold it for now. Just think about it, then tell me what you want me to do. I'll take you to a clinic or sign up for Lamaze classes, it’s your call.” 

“I just...need some time.” She said, chewing on her bottom lip as she swirled her spoon around in her half-melted milkshake. 

“Like I said, just let me know.” He said simply, turning his attention back to the remains of his cheeseburger. 

They left the topic at that and moved onto other things, like how work was for Gilbert or what Anne was planning on doing with the new curriculum that was being introduced in the coming school year, yet the baby still loomed over their heads, a heavy weight that wouldn’t be going away anytime soon. 

After thinking about it for a few days and making absolutely no progress, Anne turned to Diana. Anne was barely inside Diana’s apartment, her key still in the lock before the words were out of her mouth. 

“I’m pregnant.” She said quickly, nerves twisting painfully in her belly. 

Diana had been sitting on the couch painting her toenails and promptly dropped the brush onto the carpet when Anne made her announcement, swearing loudly as she shot up from the couch and scrambled for nail polish remover. If Anne wasn’t so terrified by the conversation she was about to have with her best friend, she would have laughed at Diana hobbling around the tiny apartment, keeping her toes up as she walked around on her heels to keep her toes from getting messed up. Only when Diana shot her a dirty look did she jump into action, grabbing towels from the linen closet to scrub with as Diana got the carpet cleaner and nail polish remover. 

“What the hell, Anne!” Diana chastitzed as they kneeled on the carpet, scrubbing at the sparkly blue stain that now marred the cream colored rug. 

“I’m sorry!” She cried. “I got nervous and it just came out!” 

Diana huffed, keeping silent on the topic as they finished cleaning the stain the best they could before settling back on the couch, Anne biting her lip almost painfully as she waited for a reaction from her friend. 

“You’re pregnant.” Diana finally said, raising an eyebrow to silently ask for confirmation. Anne nodded slowly. 

“Diana you have to promise me you won’t tell anyone. It’s super early, like four or five weeks, if I got pregnant the night I think I did.” She replied. 

“You know I won’t tell. But what about Gilbert, does he know?” 

Anne nodded. “He was the first person I told, I was still freaking out about it.” 

Diana hummed, reaching to the coffee table to pick up the glass of water sitting there, taking a long sip as she crafted her next question. 

“What did he think? I imagine he was quite surprised by it.” She said lightly, and Anne laughed, nodding in confirmation.

“He was just as freaked out as I was, I think we both needed time to process the fact that we actually made a baby together, it’s crazy to think about it.” She said with a sigh, and Diana just raised her eyebrows at her. 

“Are you really surprised? It seemed like you two did quite a lot of practicing on the baby-making front.” She said, a wicked grin on her face. Anne blushed and swatted her friend’s arm. 

“Baby making was never the goal and you know that. This was entirely accidental.” She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Well, what are you going to do?” Diana asked, and it was the question Anne had been dreading. It was what she had been asking herself non-stop since that cursed plus sign showed up on the test, and she was just as close to finding an answer than when she started. Sensing her distress, Diana cleared her throat and reframed the question. “Close your eyes and think of yourself in the next...say three years.” 

Anne obeyed the strange command and pictured herself. She was slightly older, her hair slightly more auburn than it was with a few more laugh lines adorning her face than there were at the current moment. 

“Now, what are you doing? Do you still have the same job, still living in the same apartment? Maybe you have a boyfriend, maybe not.” She said, and the fantasy began to build itself around her as Diana spoke. “Are you happy there? Or have you settled into what you think is your best?” 

“Diana I don’t understand how this is-” Anne said, cracking one eye open. Diana had her eyes closed as well, participating in the exercise just as she was, and at her objection she reached a hand out to shush her, holding a finger out to press to Anne’s lips. 

“Shhhh, trust the process.” She said, and Anne couldn’t help but roll her eyes before closing them once more. “Keep that image in your mind, now imagine a baby. They’re say… two years old, and have Gilbert’s dark curls but your eyes and the most radiant little smile. Gilbert is there too, by your side no matter what, baby or no baby. Without thinking about it, which one do you see yourself missing the most if the other went away.” 

Anne’s heart thudded in her chest, and before she even had time to think about her words she was saying, “The baby.” 

Diana was silent for a minute, and when Anne tentatively opened her eyes a moment later she found Diana looking at her with a ghost of a smile on her face. 

“Anne,” She started, reaching out to take her hands in hers. “I think you want this baby, and are too scared to admit it to yourself.” 

After being friends for so long, Diana seemed to possess the innate ability to point out exactly what Anne was feeling, yet had not realized yet. And once again, her ability proved to be true as the words settled over her. 

“I...I think you’re right.” She said, the breath leaving her lungs as the truth dawned on her. “I don’t think I could get rid of it, in any way.” 

She felt the couch shift underneath her as Diana leaned in, pressing a kiss to her brow. “Then it sounds to me like you’re going to be a mother, Anne Cuthbert.” 

Having the words said aloud sent a jolt of panic through her, and her eyes shot open as she quickly stood from the couch, pacing back and forth nervously. 

“Oh my God,” She said frantically, running her hands through her hair. “ _Oh my God.”_

“Breathe, Anne.” Diana said, and Anne shook her head, thoughts spinning out of control as her vision became clouded with tears. She didn’t try to stop them as they began to fall, her mind reeling with thoughts coming at her from different directions. 

Could she support herself and a baby on her salary? What would Gilbert say when she told him she wanted to keep it? Would he be secretly disappointed in her choice? What would Marilla and Matthew think? Surely Matthew would keel over and die at the thought of her having sex, let alone unattached, casual sex with the boy she had known since she was eleven. She wouldn’t get to see the end of the school year with her students because of maternity leave, was that fair to her kids? She hated leaving them in the middle of a school year, but she would have to take time off when the baby came. How would she tell her friends? They were going to have a field day when the news broke, that was for sure. Did she need to make a doctor’s appointment? When did she need to go to one of those? And ultrasounds? How often did those need to happen? What would she need to buy before the baby came? What would she even name the damn thing? 

She was a crying puddle of anxiety on Diana’s couch when Gilbert walked in, having been called by the brunette woman when Anne’s spiral began. Worry was written all over his face as Diana pointed to her without a word, and he was quick to cross the room and sit beside her, scooping her up into his arms. 

“Hey, what’s all this about?” He asked gently as she curled into him, clutching his shirt in her hands tightly as she sobbed. 

“G-Gilbert,” She cried, and she couldn’t help but chuckle. 

“That’s me. I’m here, Carrots and I’m not going anywhere. Now, tell me what’s wrong.” He said, rubbing her back gently as she tried to control her breathing enough to speak. Finally, amongst uncontrollable hiccups and sniffles, she was finally able to get all of her words out. 

“I-I want this b-baby so-so bad!” She admitted, words muffled by the fabric of his shirt. “B-but I’m s-so scared!” 

Gilbert chuckled, squeezing her gently, rocking her back and forth. “It’s okay to be scared, I’m scared too. But you know what?” 

Anne sniffled, looking up at her best friend as she sniffled. “What?” 

“You’re not alone in this,” Gilbert said earnestly. “I’m not going anywhere, so if you want this baby, I’ll be right there beside you. I’m all in.” 

His assurances took a heavy weight off of her shoulders that she hadn’t realized she was carrying, and the relief that washed over her sent her into another fit of tears. 

She wasn’t sure how long it took before her sobs turned into pathetic whimpers, but when she did Gilbert stopped stroking her hair and wiped the tears from her cheeks, a small smile on his face. 

“Feel better now?” He asked, an eyebrow arched upwards with a hint of amusement. She would have hit him if she wasn’t already emotionally exhausted, but since she didn’t have the energy to, she simply sniffled and buried her head in his chest. 

“I want a McFlurry.” She said, only to look up at him quickly. “The baby wants one, too.” 

Gilbert chuckled, rolling his eyes at her. He would have gotten her ice cream even without her using the baby as justification, but he couldn’t deny the butterflies he felt at the acknowledgement of their child. “Oh really? Well the baby doesn’t have a brain yet, so I don’t think they can really want things…” 

Anne huffed grumpily, glaring up at him. “If they take after you, they’ll never have a brain.” 

“Fair point, that’s why I’m hoping they’ll be like you.” Gilbert said with a smile, giving her a small smack on the rear before sliding her off of his lap and standing up. “Come on, let’s go get you _and the baby_ a Mcflurry.” 

“Will you drive? And then bring me back to my car?” Anne asked, wiping her tears away. 

“Sure thing,” He said, grabbing his keys from where he had dropped them while Anne got her purse. 

Twenty minutes and another meltdown because the ice cream machine at Mcdonald’s was broken later, Anne had an order of timbits in her hands and was happily munching on her snack. Only once she seemed content and less likely to cry again did Gilbert broach the topic that had been on his mind since Diana’s. 

“So, you’re keeping it?” He asked casually, raising an eyebrow at her as he slowed to a stop at a red light. Anne nodded, humming in affirmation as she popped another donut into her mouth. Gilbert stayed quiet as she chewed and swallowed, washing the treat down with a sip of the tea she ordered. 

“Gilbert, when I first told you, you said that you had an opinion but would withhold it. Will you tell me now?” She asked, looking at him with trepidation as he pulled up in front of Diana’s apartment, putting his car into the parking spot next to Anne’s. 

Anne watched his face carefully, looking for any sign or hint as to what was going through his mind, anxiety coiling tightly in her gut. Finally, after what felt like a small eternity, he turned and looked down at her, reaching out to gently brush a lock of hair out of her face before speaking. 

“I think that it would be an honor to have you as the mother of my child, Anne Cuthbert.” 

She started crying again then for the millionth time that day (she blamed the hormones) as relief washed over her. Gilbert reached out for her, awkwardly pulling her across the center console to draw her up in his arms as she clung onto him. 

“I w-want this baby s-so bad G-Gil.” She said insistently, hiccuping the words out as she cried into his shirt. 

Gilbert laughed then, squeezing her gently. “I do too, Carrots. I do too.” 

___________

Summer had officially set in, the days long and hazy in the sun-soaked fields of Avonlea. As the days got longer and warmer, it got harder and harder for Anne to keep her secret. She would have to tell her friends eventually, but she was thankful that she and Gilbert were in agreement on waiting until she was out of her first trimester to do so. 

What she couldn’t wait on though, was telling her parents. Matthew and Marilla deserved to know, and so she had to buck up the courage to break the news to them. All things considered, it went better than expected. She had taken Gilbert with her over to Green Gables for dinner one night, which was not odd in the slightest. He had been a frequent fixture at their house for years, so nothing was obviously amiss by her inviting him along for the night. 

It was only after dinner when the four of them moved out to the front porch to enjoy the sunset over the farm together did the stars line up for Anne to tell the news. Matthew and Gilbert cracked open beers like they normally did, tapping their bottles together before taking a sip as Marilla popped open a bottle of wine for her and Anne. 

“No thank you,” Anne said, holding out a hand as Marilla went to pour her a glass. “I’m not drinking tonight.” 

“Alright then,” Marilla said with a shrug, not thinking too much of her refusal. When she didn’t press the topic further Anne glanced at Gilbert, who looked back at her nervously as he took another sip from his bottle. She huffed, hating that it was her responsibility to tell her parents. Her stomach was twisting with nerves, and she wiped her sweaty palms on her jean shorts as she procrastinated a moment more. Finally, she sent a quick prayer upwards that Matthew wouldn’t have a heart attack before clearing her throat and folding her hands nervously over her lap. 

“I actually won’t be drinking for the next little while, because I’m pregnant.” She said slowly, eyes darting back and forth between Matthew and Marilla as the words hung heavily in the air. She watched as Matthew’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline, blinking rapidly in shock. Marilla, on the other hand, sputtered into her wine glass, which would have been hilarious if Anne wasn’t on the verge of a mental breakdown. 

“And it’s mine.” Gilbert added casually, taking a sip from his beer as Anne groaned, dropping her head into her hands. She could have punched him. 

“Seriously? You could have said a thousand times better than the way you did, Gilbert.” She said, words heavy with exasperation. 

“I got nervous.” He said sheepishly, his face as red as a tomato when she looked up at him with a murderous glare. She didn’t have time to think of a scathing retort (or to just stand up and follow through on her idea of punching him) before Marilla was composing herself, clearing her throat to get their attention. 

“I wasn’t aware that you two were together. It’s a long time coming, if I do say so myself.” She said, her tone neutral. Anne felt the nerves in her belly loosen just slightly. When it came to Marilla, neutral was a good thing. Gilbert coughed nervously as the comment, shuffling in his seat. 

“We aren’t together.” Anne corrected, her face hot with embarrassment as she tried to vaguely explain that her baby daddy was also her friend with benefits. “We had… have? A sort of… casual arrangement between us, the baby was kind of an accident.” 

“A happy accident.” Gilbert added quickly, a slightly goofy smile on his face, and Anne rolled her eyes at him. His excitement over the baby had been barely contained since he had found out, and it was very hard for Anne to convince herself that it wasn’t endearing. 

Even though her and Gilbert were both completely red by that point in the conversation, no one was blushing more than Matthew, and it was at that point when Anne admitted they were only sleeping together, he shot out of his seat as if he had been launched from a cannon. His eyes darted between her and Gilbert once or twice before he nodded nervously. 

“Barn.” He sputtered, saying nothing else as he took off across the yard towards his safe haven. 

“Should I follow him, or am I currently at risk of being shot?” Gilbert said lightly, trying to break the tension that had settled over the group. 

“Leave him be for now. He’ll be fine once he has a chance to think through it all.” Marilla said with a dismissive wave of her wrist as she looked between her and Gilbert. “Well, I’m not going to ask how this happened because I’m sure we all know the answer to that. I suppose you two have some sort of plan?” 

“A vague one.” Anne answered, glancing up at Gilbert nervously, wishing they had hashed out the specifics more before telling Marilla- the unofficial queen of details. “I’m due in February, so I’m hoping to get through the first half of the school year and then as much of the second as I can before taking maternity leave.” 

“And how will you split custody, if you aren’t together?” Marilla asked, making Anne’s stomach twist painfully as she raised an eyebrow at the two of them. 

“We’ll have that discussion when the time comes, we have a few years at least because the baby will need to be with Anne for the first little while… but more immediately, I’ll be taking time off work when the baby comes to help as much as possible. I’m all in, we’re both one hundred percent dedicated to giving our child the best life it can have.” Gilbert said, voice full of dedication and passion that made Anne’s stomach twist in a completely different way. She stood quickly, clearing her throat as a wave of anxiety hit her like a freight train. 

“I’m going to go check on Matthew.” She said, trying to not look as frantic as she felt as she quickly marched down the porch steps and across the yard. 

She found Matthew in the barn, tending to the horses as he tried to keep himself busy in order to stay away from the revelation that was currently taking place on the porch. Anne knocked lightly on the door frame, lingering there for a moment before Matthew turned his head. 

“Can I come in?” She asked, stepping in further when she received a nod from the older man. “Are you angry with me?” 

“Of course not,” Matthew said quickly with a firm shake of his head. “Just a little surprised, is all. Not what I was expecting to hear.” 

“I wasn’t expecting it either, I can assure you.” Anne said with a chuckle, reaching out to stroke Belle’s nose lovingly. The two lapsed into silence, working in tandem as they always had, communicating clearly without ever needing to say a word. It felt freeing, knowing that Matthew wasn’t going to ask anymore questions than necessary, or force her to talk when all she wanted to do was clear her head a little bit. He had always been the one who she knew she could come to and not have any sort of lingering expectations to meet. 

“And what about you?” Matthew finally said as they finished up their tasks and settled down on the stairs to the hay loft. “What do you think about all of this?” 

Anne paused, chewing on the inside of her cheek. She had thought about that question over and over again for two months now, and it seemed like her answer was constantly changing. But in that moment, she knew exactly what she wanted to say. 

“Growing up, all I wanted to know was that I was loved. That I was wanted somewhere, by someone. It was my biggest dream, my most frequent prayer. And it took most of my life to get the assurance that I wanted, but this baby... _my_ baby... They will never have to wonder if they are loved and wanted, because they’ll know with absolute certainty from the moment they’re born.” She said, voice catching in her throat as her emotions overtook her, and she found herself being wrapped in Matthew’s arms. 

“That they will.” He said, his words coming out strained, and if Anne didn’t know better, she would have thought he was crying, too. 

When the duo finally left the barn as the sun was setting over the horizon, Gilbert was waiting for them by his car, hands tucked into the pockets of his jeans. He straightened up when they approached him, and he held his hand out to shake Matthew’s firmly. 

“I promise I’m going to take care of them, both of them. This wasn’t planned, but they’re my family now, and I’m not going to let them down.” He said, eyes sincere and intense in a way that was completely overwhelming to Anne. (She blamed the hormones.)

“I believe you, son.” Matthew replied as he dropped his hand, glancing down to where Anne was staring up at Gilbert. “Anne, you better say goodbye to your mother before you two hit the road, she’ll be cross if you don’t.” 

Pulled from her stupor and feeling warm despite the evening breeze, Anne simply tucked her head downwards before marching into the house. 

“Marilla? We’re about to leave.” She called when she entered the house, making her way to the kitchen where her mother was loading the dishwasher. She straightened up when Anne entered, giving her a tight smile as she opened her arms for a hug. She welcomed the embrace, wrapping her arms tightly around the older woman, content to stay there in her arms for a moment. 

“Are you disappointed in me?” She asked quietly, her voice small and strained, fearful of the answer. Marilla snorted, pulling away with a roll of her eyes. 

“Of course not,” She said. “Surprised? Certainly. But you could have picked worse men to have a child with, that’s for sure. Gilbert has always been a fine young man, and he’ll be a wonderful father.” 

Anne just nodded, that damn knot tightening in her stomach once more as she gave Marilla one last hug and promised to stop by later in the week for baby planning details to be worked through. 

With all of the goodbyes said, Anne climbed into the car and buckled herself in, keeping her gaze forward as they took off towards Anne’s place. 

The air in the car seemed to be electric, and Anne couldn’t help but shift in her seat, feeling a little too hot beneath her collar. She was hyper aware of everything Gilbert did, the way he fidgeted with the volume on the radio, and tapped the beat of the music against his thigh, and with every moment that passed Anne felt herself getting more and more worked up. 

“Gilbert, pull over.” She said, voice tight, and with a look of concern he obliged, stopping the car on the empty country road. 

“Are you alright? Do you feel okay?” He asked, voice laced with worry as he shifted the car into park. Anne shook her head, taking a deep breath as she finally looked up at him. 

“My doctor said that my hormones are going crazy right now, and I think he’s right because if I don’t have sex with you right now I think I might explode.” She said, too worked up in that moment to be embarrassed by her wanton request. Gilbert blinked at her in shock, surprised at her request. 

“Can you wait until we get to your place?” He asked, and Anne shook her head quickly. 

“Please Gilbert, didn’t you say you’d do whatever you can to help me?” She huffed. He chuckled then, shaking his head once with an amused smirk on his face before unbuckling his seat belt.

“Meet you in the backseat?” 

“Sounds like a plan.” She said, already opening her door and unbuttoning her shorts, never one to waste time. 

__________

“Diana it was awful! I don’t know what came over me. One second I was fine, and the next I was so horny I couldn’t think straight.” Anne complained a few days later, laying on her friend’s bed, one arm over her face while the other one splayed over her belly. 

“The sex was awful, or the fact that you literally had sex on a backroad because you couldn’t wait five minutes to get to a bed?” Diana asked, raising an eyebrow at the redhead from her spot beside her. 

“The second one.” Anne said, huffing loudly. “The sex was great, as always. It should be criminal how good that man is in bed.” 

“Well then, what happened that got you so hot and bothered that you couldn’t wait? Did anything happen at Green Gables?” Diana prodded, all too amused at her friend’s misery. 

Anne went quiet then, thinking back on the events of the night. It seemed like everything had been fine until she left the barn with Matthew and then...

“I started feeling… weird when Matthew and I left the barn and Gilbert was waiting for us. He shook Matthew’s hand and told him that he was going to take care of me and the baby because we’re his family. Then _bam!_ Five minutes later I was jumping him.” Anne said, moving her arm away from her face, eyebrows drawn together in confusion. “But that doesn’t make any sense!” 

If it were even possible, Diana looked more smug than she had previously. She loved Anne dearly, but _damn_ she was dense sometimes. “Anne,” She said slowly. “I think you have a kink for being taken care of.” 

Anne’s jaw dropped as she looked up at her friend in shock, hand searching for a throw pillow to whack her with. “That’s ridiculous!” She argued. 

“You can deny it all you want, but you told me that you haven’t had sex since you got pregnant and then all of the sudden he’s telling your father that he’s going to make sure you’re taken care of and all you want to do is climb him like a tree. Sounds like you have a kink to me.” She said simply, dodging the second swing of the pillow from Anne. 

“You aren’t funny, I hope you know that.” She said grumpily. 

“I wasn’t trying to be.” Diana replied, sticking her nose in the air. “Just trying to get you to open your eyes to what’s right in front of you.” 

Anne simply rolled her eyes at her friend, choosing to ignore her as she picked up her phone from where she had tossed it earlier before her meltdown. 

“You’re an awful friend, Diana Barry. Now shut up about my supposed “kinks” and help me look at cribs, I need to get an idea of what I want before Gil and I try braving Ikea.” 

Diana just rolled her eyes and obliged. Anne wouldn’t see the truth until she wanted to, she supposed. 

______________

With Matthew and Marilla in the loop, the next hurdle was telling Gilbert’s family. They agreed that telling them over dinner was a safe option, but Gilbert insisted that they go out to eat, rather than meeting at Mary and Bash’s place. He reasoned that Bash was going to give him the tormenting of a lifetime for his little slip up, and being in public would force Bash to behave, at least for a little while. 

Naturally, things didn’t go as planned. 

“Anne, let’s just go. They haven’t seen us yet, we can always tell them something came up last minute.” Gilbert said as they sat in the car outside of the restaurant, leaning back in the driver’s seat with his arms crossed over his chest. 

“No! No!” Anne insisted from the passenger’s seat, her words dripping with frustration as she sat doubled over with her head in between her knees. “Give me two fucking seconds to breathe, the nausea will pass, and we can go inside. There’s no way I’m going to be able to eat anything, but I’ll say I had a heavy lunch or something.” 

Gilbert exhaled heavily, feeling guilty for the nausea that had hit her like a freight train the week before. It seemed like he had been sent on numerous runs to the grocery store to buy ginger ale, saltines, and popsicles, and he knew he would probably do many more before the nausea subsided. 

“Alright, just let me know when you’re ready.” He said, pulling his phone from his pocket to let Bash know they would be a minute late. 

A few minutes later Anne was feeling marginally better, still not great, but well enough that she could move without feeling like she would lose her lunch. Digging in her purse for a peppermint, she popped the candy in her mouth before taking one last deep breath and pulling herself from the car. 

“Look who finally made it!” Bash said happily when they approached the table, and the pair rolled their eyes at the man as they took their seats. Anne was thankful for the water that Mary and Bash had the foresight to order for them, and she took a long sip as she settled into her seat. Her nose scrunched up in displeasure as she swallowed the water and set the cup down on the table with a sour look on her face.

“Is something wrong, Anne?” Gilbert asked, turning his attention away from Delphine when he noticed the face she was making. 

“It’s too cold.” She complained, and he chuckled, rolling his eyes at her. He didn’t notice the curious look Mary gave Anne at her strange complaint, but she kept her thoughts and suspicions to herself as the redhead ordered another glass of water with no ice. She also didn’t comment when Anne opted out of getting something to eat, instead nibbling on a roll as she claimed she had a large lunch. 

She did finally act when their meals were set down in front of them, and Anne got a whiff of the fish that Bash had ordered. She inhaled sharply, her hand coming up to her mouth for a split second before she swallowed roughly, standing up from the table quickly. 

“Excuse me,” She said, voice strained as she took off towards the restrooms. Gilbert made a move to stand up, but Mary beat him to it, holding a hand up to stop him. 

“I’ve got it.” She assured him, and with a reluctant nod from her adopted son she turned and set off in the direction Anne had gone. Luckily, she had not locked the stall behind her, and Mary was able to quickly slip into the stall with her, locking the door before gathering Anne’s hair behind her head, quickly braiding it back so it would stay out of the way as she gagged over the toilet. Mary knelt down beside her friend, rubbing her back gently to try and soothe her. 

“So, how far along are you?” She asked plainly, and Anne groaned quietly, lifting her head slightly to look at Mary. 

“Seven weeks, and I’m fucking _miserable._ ” She said, looking every bit as terrible as she felt. Mary nodded, offering her a sympathetic smile as Anne gave her a skeptical look. “How did you know?” 

“You looked like you were about to pitch a fit over your water being too cold, the only people ornery enough to fuss about that are geriatrics and pregnant women. Then the ‘I’m not hungry’ excuse paired with looking like you were about to die smelling that fish...” 

“It sounds incredibly obvious when you lay it out like that.” Anne chuckled, reaching forward to flush the toilet as Mary stood and offered her hand to help her up. 

“So, are you going to give me an explanation, or am I going to have to start guessing for that too?” Mary asked, raising an eyebrow at Anne, who looked bashful at her prodding. 

“Your explanation is that I let Gilbert take the condom off, and he’s really bad at math.” Anne said flatly, opening the stall and washing her hands. She was confused at first, but when the realization of the statement dawned on Mary, a positively murderous look spread across her face. 

“I’m going to kill him.” She huffed, and Anne didn’t have time to try and talk her down from it before she was marching back through the restaurant, Anne trailing behind her. 

Gilbert didn’t see it coming when Mary cuffed him on the back of the head in one smooth motion, her step not faltering as she walked around the table to settle back down in her seat, a harsh glare on her face. He didn’t see Bash’s smack either, and he swore quietly, rubbing the back of his head as he shot a dirty look at the man he considered to be a brother more than a father figure. 

“What was that for?” He asked incredulously as Anne settled back down in her seat next to him, looking slightly pale and apologetic. 

“I figured if you’ve done something stupid enough to be smacked once in the middle of the restaurant, you deserved two.” Bash said with a shrug, and Gilbert rolled his eyes before turning to Mary, who looked ready to give him a piece of her mind. 

“You’re an idiot.” She said. “So please tell me where I went wrong with you, because I didn’t raise you to be an idiot.” 

He winced at the harsh words, giving Anne a quick look, and she looked sheepishly down at her placemat. He bit the inside of his cheek, looking up at Mary carefully. He was half worried that she would hit him again, he definitely didn’t put it past her to do so. 

“Will someone tell me what’s going on here?” Bash asked, interjecting himself into the conversation. 

“Yeah, Gilbert? Why don’t you tell him what’s going on?” Mary said, raising an eyebrow up at him. Gilbert felt his face go hot, and he cleared his throat awkwardly, his gaze going back and forth between Mary, Bash, and Anne. 

After a long, tense silence he finally blurted out the news. 

“Anne’s pregnant.” He admitted, and he watched as Bash’s eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. 

“And?” Mary prompted, crossing her arms over her chest.

“...And it’s mine?” He added. 

“Keep going. How did this happen?” Mary said, giving him the no-nonsense look that scared him just as much at twenty six as it did when he was fourteen. 

“I didn’t pull out fast enough?” He said, voice a much higher pitch than normal as he cast a glance over to where his niece was sitting, the ten year old thankfully distracted by coloring pages. 

Next, he spared a glance to Bash, who looked downright giddy at the new information he had been told. 

“Please don’t make a scene.” He begged quietly, hiding his head in his hands. Bash chuckled, shaking his head. 

“I won’t make a scene in here, but the second we get outside? You’re done for.” He chuckled quietly, casting a quick look to Anne. 

“Sorry you’re stuck with this bastard for the next eighteen years.” He snorted, and Anne merely rolled her eyes as she stood from the table. 

“Well, now that we all know, I don’t have to lie. I need to throw up again. I’ll be back.” She said simply, striding off towards the bathroom. With her gone, Gilbert glanced sheepishly back and forth between the couple that had raised him. 

“So, how long has this been going on?” Bash asked with a shit eating grin on his face, and Gilbert held back to impulse to hit him. 

“Nothing is _going on_.” He groaned. “As previously mentioned: it was an accident. Anne and I were just… having some fun together in addition to the other stuff we’ve been doing as friends since we were kids.” 

“Except you’ve loved her since she bashed your head in with a library book.” Bash teased, and Gilbert shot him a dirty look. 

“Will you please shut up?” He hissed, looking over his shoulder to make sure Anne wasn’t choosing the most inopportune moment to return to the table. 

“So you’re man enough to knock her up but not man enough to admit that you’re gone for her?” Bash asked, which earned him a smack to the shoulder from Mary. 

“What part of ‘ _it was an accident_ ’ do you not understand? Trust me, I didn’t mean for any of this to happen.” Gilbert groaned, setting his head in his hands. Obviously, getting his best friend/love of his life pregnant from casual sex was not part of his life plan, but he was determined to make the best of it. He would be whatever Anne needed him to be for as long as she needed him, and he secretly hoped that she wanted him around for a good, long time. 

Before he had the chance to defend himself more Anne was coming back to the table, settling back down at the table and taking a sip from her water. 

“Feeling any better?” Gilbert asked, all frustration with Bash gone as concern for Anne took over his thoughts. She shrugged, setting her glass back down. 

“For now.” She said simply, turning to Mary with a pleading expression. “Please tell me this gets better sooner rather than later.” 

Mary chuckled, giving her friend a sympathetic look. “I wish I could give you good news, honey, but it just depends. With Elijah, I didn’t throw up once, but with Dellie it seemed like I was nauseous every day up until I delivered. Only time will tell.” 

Anne groaned, throwing Gilbert a nasty glare before she took another sip from her water. Bash laughed, enjoying Gilbert’s torment way too much to let it go anytime soon. With the news out in the open, the rest of the night was filled with easy conversation that quickly turned to exuberant excitement over the new addition to the Blythe-Cuthbert-Lacroix family, especially when they told Delphine, who promptly screamed so loud that everyone in the restaurant looked their way. 

_________

The end of summer was rapidly approaching when the time came to tell their friends, and they returned to the place where all of the nonsense started: The McPherson household. 

They decided to drive together to the end of summer barbeque that Moody and Ruby were hosting, and Anne was hoping that she wouldn’t truly have to say anything, and a few minutes sitting by the pool would be more than enough to let their friends know. 

Still, nerves (and a hint of nausea) twisted in her belly as she walked with Gilbert through the back gate, putting on a smile and a brave face as she made her way over to the pool where all the girls had congregated. Anne dropped her bag by one of the unoccupied chairs, kicking off her sandals as Gilbert made his way over to the grill where the other guys were. Trying to pretend that she was less nervous than she was, she pulled over her shirt and shorts, tossing the clothes in her bag as she pulled out her sunscreen, leaving herself in her bikini. She felt eyes on her immediately, as she began spraying herself down, and tried not to pay any attention to it. 

She and Gilbert had decided to try and not call any attention to it, just to see if their friends would notice anything. She thought it was inevitable, somewhere between being thirteen and fourteen weeks, her stomach had finally popped, and even though she was still small, she no longer looked bloated. 

By the time she finished putting on her sunscreen and settled down in her chair in between Diana and Jane, Josie finally spoke up. 

“Anne, you need to chill on the taquitos, you’re getting fat.” She said bluntly. Anne snorted, she should have made a bet with Gilbert on who would be the first to say something, because her money would have undoubtedly been on the blonde, who was never one to not speak her mind. 

“It’s Gilbert’s fault.” Anne said simply, watching as Josie’s face scrunched up in confusion. Diana sputtered beside her, biting back a laugh as she covered her mouth with her hand. 

“What does he have to do with that? Does he have some sort of weird feeding kink?” She asked, glancing over to where Gilbert was talking to Moody and Paul by the grill. 

“Not exactly.” Anne said, raising her eyebrow at Josie before clearing her throat and cupping her hands around her mouth. “Excuse me! I’d like to make an announcement!” 

Everyone’s eyes landed on her then, and Anne stole a glance at Gilbert, who just watched on with an amused look. Anne laughed, standing up from her chair to address the group. 

“I’d just like to let everyone know that Gilbert’s pull out game is weak, and as a result, Baby Blythe-Cuthbert will be here in February. So I am _not_ getting fat, I’m just knocked up, that is all!” She announced loudly, plopping herself down back in her chair and watching as chaos broke out amongst their friends. 

Gilbert was immediately dog piled by the guys, falling into a heap on the grass as they all yelled over each other, and Anne only caught a few words here and there, most of which followed the theme of: _dumb ass, bastard,_ or the ever popular _mother fucker!_ Anne just laughed at the endless ribbing he would receive, turning back to her friends, who had their own choice words to shriek at her. 

_“OH MY GOD ANNE!”_

_“HOW FAR ALONG ARE YOU?”_

_“CAN I TOUCH YOUR BELLY OH MY GOD YOU'RE SUCH A CUTE PREGNANT LADY ALREADY OH MY GOD!”_

_“DO YOU KNOW WHAT IT IS YET?”_

_“SOMEONE GET A PIECE OF PAPER WE NEED TO START PLANNING A BABY SHOWER!”_

_“YOUR BABY IS GOING TO BE SO CUTE IT'S HONESTLY UNFAIR!”_

“Guys please!” Anne shouted, holding in her laughter as her friends crowded around her, taking a step back. 

“Yeah!” Gilbert called, poking his head out of the dog pile. “Leave my baby mama alone!” 

His words only spurred the guys on more, and he promptly disappeared back into the pile. Anne could only shake her head at him, rolling her eyes as she turned back to her friends. 

“To answer your questions: I’ll be fifteen weeks on Tuesday, the baby is the size of an orange right now, isn’t that so cool? If you want to touch my stomach, you can, I guess? And no we don’t know what it is yet, we’re finding out at our ultrasound in a couple of weeks but we aren’t sure if we want to know just yet, and you guys really don’t have to plan a baby shower-” She said, rolling her eyes as hands descended upon her stomach, feeling the small bump. 

“Shut up Anne, we’re throwing you a baby shower.” Josie said, rolling her eyes. 

“You’re the first one to have a baby, please don’t deprive us of this.” Tillie added. 

“I’m just jealous you got pregnant before I did, and I’m the married one here!” Ruby huffed, looking over her shoulder to where the boys had finally broken up their wrestling match to find her husband standing up and brushing the grass off of himself. “Moody, I want a baby too!”

“Damn it Gilbert, look what you did!” Moody groaned, socking him in the arm. Gilbert winced, rubbing the spot gingerly, muttering _I didn’t mean to_ under his breath.

“And when is it going to be my turn, Jerry?” Diana called to add fuel to the fire, and Anne couldn’t help but laugh as Jerry sent a murderous glare in Gilbert’s direction before dragging him into another scuffle. 

By the time the two stopped fighting, Charlie was already passing around shot glasses to everyone, giving two to Gilbert because “Anne can’t take hers, so you have to drink for both of you” and then they were holding their glasses up, cheering, “To Baby Blythe!” and Anne was so happy in that moment that she hardly cared that they hadn’t included the ‘Cuthbert’. 

  
  



	3. Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took away the chapter count because lord only knows how long this is going to end up being.

Anne really should have known that Rachel Lynde was going to make her want to rip her hair out. She couldn’t have put a date or time to when she would spring her attack, but Anne should have known that an onslaught was in the cards at some point after Rachel heard she was pregnant. 

They didn’t announce to the world until after their friends knew, and with surprising efficiency, Rachel turned up at Green Gables the afternoon they posted their announcement when Anne just so happened to be visiting Marilla. 

“My, my,” Rachel said with a smile on her face as she blew into the house. “Let me be the first to congratulate you and Gilbert.” 

“Thank you, Rachel. We’re both really excited.” Anne said with a snort from where she was lounging on the couch, a bowl of hummus resting on her stomach and a piece of pita hanging loosely from her hand. She had been contemplating just asking Marilla for a spoon to eat the hummus, but she thought that Marilla would be too grossed out and had settled on the pita and celery that she had been given. 

“Now tell me,” Rachel said as she sat down in a chair across from Anne, an inquisitive smile on her face that Anne knew meant trouble. “How long have you and Gilbert been together? I hadn’t heard anything about your relationship prior to your little announcement.” 

Anne took a large scoop of hummus from the bowl as Rachel began speaking, shoving it into her mouth at the last second to delay the inevitable for as long as possible as she shot Marilla a desperate look for help. Marilla, the traitor, just shrugged and kept knitting quietly, leaving Anne out to dry. 

She took her time chewing and swallowing, and contemplated faking morning sickness so she could leave and avoid the question altogether, but eventually she had to clear her throat and answer. “Gilbert and I aren’t together, Rachel. We never were.” 

The woman’s eyebrows shot up at the revelation, and Anne snorted, picking up a piece of celery to use as her next vehicle to deliver hummus to her mouth. 

“I see.” She said stiffly, and Anne had to hold back her desire to laugh as Rachel turned to Marilla. “What do you think about all of this then?” 

“I think Anne is a grown adult who is perfectly capable of making decisions for herself, and handling the consequences of those decisions. That being said, I’m absolutely thrilled on the prospect of becoming a grandmother, and I’m not going to let anything spoil that for me.” She answered simply, giving Rachel a pointed look at the end of her statement, making it very clear who she was talking about. 

Rachel huffed, giving Anne a skeptical look as she crossed her arms over her chest. “So you’re telling me you and Gilbert haven’t even discussed being together for this baby’s sake?” 

“Nope,” Anne said through a mouthful of celery and hummus. She swallowed, reaching for her glass of water to take a sip before turning back to Rachel. “We’re going to raise the baby together, and I’m sure Gilbert will stay with me at my place for a little while once he or she is born, but why does the fact that I got pregnant mean we need to jump into a relationship together?” 

“The world really has changed since my day, Matthew would be pushing Gilbert down the aisle with a shotgun had this happened thirty years ago.” Rachel said with a humorless snort. 

“Well thank God we’re in 2020 then, and that my reputation in this town isn’t at stake because I dared to have-” Anne gasped dramatically, holding her hand to her mouth. “ _ Premarital sex!  _ Oh my, I’m such a harlot! Marilla, get the red thread, we must start embroidering an  _ A  _ into all of my clothing so everyone knows just how much of a whore I really am for having sex with a man I’m not married to! And then my birth control had the gall to fail, such a scandal! _ ” _

She punctuated her sarcastic response with a roll of her eyes, earning a warning look from Marilla. Rachel opened her mouth to respond, a stormy expression on her face, but after a pointed look from Marilla she dropped the topic, giving Anne a unabashed look of disapproval. Anne, completely unperturbed by Rachel, just continued to eat her snack, her free hand resting on her belly, unconsciously rubbing her bump softly as Marilla swooped in and turned the conversation to something about the farm’s summer crop. 

Anne’s sour mood lingered throughout the afternoon. It seemed like she was always fielding questions from all angles about her and Gilbert. Why did everyone assume that the two of them would magically get together just because they had a baby on the way? They had a good thing going between them as friends, and they would be just fine co parenting together. There was no use complicating things by trying to start a relationship out of a sense of obligation for the status quo. 

They were just fine as they are, why did anything have to change?

* * *

While Rachel was overly inquisitive about her pregnancy, Anne was thankful that she got to escape the probing questions from the older woman (and just about everyone else- it was heinous how nosy complete strangers were. She had nearly punched a little old man who thought it was alright to touch her stomach at the farmer’s market, Gilbert had dragged her away before she could begin ranting, but she had been only a moment away from ripping him a new asshole for touching her without her consent) at school. 

Anne loved her job. She loved her middle schoolers and how utterly unprepared they were for certain scenarios. School had started back in mid-September, and as the first month of school wore on and her waist expanded further and further outward, the cautious stares only got worse and worse. Her students were all too shy or embarrassed to ask her if she was pregnant or not, even though she was nearly halfway through her pregnancy and very obviously had a baby bump. Part of her wanted to put the poor kids out of their misery and just tell them that she was expecting, but she also got a little too much amusement out of it to spoil her own fun. 

“Honestly it’s priceless sometimes,” She laughed one night, splitting a pizza with Gilbert as they lounged on her couch. “Like the outfit I wore today made me look  _ very  _ pregnant and I could tell so many of them wanted to say anything, but I think they’re too scared.” 

“Isn’t that the first rule of life though? Not to ask a woman if she’s pregnant?” Gilbert countered, raising an eyebrow at her as he pulled the garlic sauce from her hands once more. “And stop trying to get this, or do you not remember how awful you felt after last time?” 

“You’re no fun,” She huffed. “I don’t care if I’ll feel bad later, it just tastes too damn good not to use it.” 

“You won’t be singing that same tune tonight when you have heartburn so bad you want me to take you to the ER.” Gilbert challenged, thinking back to the week before when Anne had drenched her pizza in the sauce and then was convinced that she was dying several hours later. 

“That’s why you’re a doctor though, to make sure I’m not actually dying. But for now, I’d like for you to  _ stop  _ being Dr. Blythe and just be my baby daddy who waits on me hand and foot without complaining.” She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. 

In the end he had relented, and sure enough by the time Gilbert was getting ready to leave for the night Anne was wallowing on the sofa, bitching and moaning about how terrible the garlic had made her feel. Thankfully, Gilbert didn’t say ‘ _ I told you so’  _ like he had every right to do, and instead helped her into bed and got the Tums from her medicine cabinet before kicking off his shoes and getting in bed with her, saying that he would stay the night to make sure she didn’t have a heart attack while she slept. 

“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” She asked as she settled on her side, letting Gilbert lie behind her and wrap an arm around her body to rest a hand on her belly, warm and soft against the skin of her abdomen. 

“No, are you?” He answered a moment later, and Anne shook her head. 

“I don’t think I care what it is. I love them either way. Boy, girl, neither, both. As long as they’re healthy, that’s all I care about.” Anne said with a determined nod, looking over her shoulder. “What about you?” 

“I feel the same. Whatever it is, as long as they’re healthy, I’ll be happy.” He said, and Anne couldn’t help but smile before turning over as another wave of heartburn hit her and she swore quietly (and if she elbowed Gilbert for laughing at her, well, he definitely deserved it.) 

The next day Anne left school during lunch to make it to her twenty week ultrasound, practically buzzing with nerves as she pulled into the parking lot, spotting Gilbert’s car immediately. Despite the fact that she truly meant it when she said that she didn’t care whether or not the baby was a boy or a girl, she still couldn’t deny that she was anxious to figure out. (She also knew that both Matthew and Marilla were secretly rooting for it to be a girl, though they had tried their best to keep it a secret.) 

Fifteen minutes of waiting, a urine sample, and three vials of blood work later, Anne sat back on the examination table, looking anxiously up at the monitor, Gilbert’s hand clenched tightly in hers as they looked up at the screen. 

“Baby looks perfect so far,” The tech said happily, and Anne couldn’t help but sigh with relief, turning away from the monitor to give Gilbert a happy smile before looking back to the screen as the tech gave them a smile. “It’s looking like I’ll be able to see the gender, do you two want to know?” 

Without hesitation Anne nodded, a beaming smile on her face. She felt the ultrasound wand move around her stomach, trying to find the right angle to give them the information that they wanted. 

“There we are!” The tech said triumphantly, pausing her movements and pointing to the screen. “It looks like we have a little…” 

* * *

Anne practically skipped into her that afternoon right before sixth period was set to start, a stack of ultrasound pictures in her bag and a smile on her face. Her students filed in only a moment after she did, and Anne chuckled to herself, turning on the doc cam and projector, waiting until her students had settled down to slide one of the sonogram photos underneath the camera, letting the image be projected on the board. 

“Ms. SC, what  _ is _ that?” One of the students blurted out in confusion, and she couldn’t help but laugh, settling a hand on her belly as realization dawned on a few of their faces. 

“This, everyone, is my son.” 

* * *

What followed her announcement could only be described as pure and utter bedlam. Students were screaming, chairs were flipped over, she had about seven students hugging her all at once, and she loved every moment of the chaos. A few curious heads poked into the classroom while the scene unfolded, no doubt students from other classes that had been sent to investigate the shouting, and soon enough the entire sixth grade hall knew that Ms. SC (or Ms. Messy- a love-filled nickname gifted to her during her first year teaching when one student misheard her tell the students that they could call her Ms. SC rather than Ms. Shirley-Cuthbert) was having a baby (and not just getting fat like a lot of students assumed). 

As predicted, not much got done the rest of the day, even though Anne tried to reign in her enthusiastic students. She very pointedly ignored the questions about whether or not she was married and instead told them everything she knew she could without getting herself in trouble. By the time she had wrangled her class into some sense of order and got them started on the assignment for the day she snuck a text to Gilbert, telling him about the chaos she had caused.

As funny as it was in the moment, she knew that the joy couldn’t last long. 

The first snide comment came a week later when she was painting faces at the fall festival. 

“I would have thought you would have taken this year off, being in your condition.” Mrs. Moore, the outspoken chairwoman of the PTO, said as Anne focused on painting a sunflower on a 7th grader’s cheek. 

“What condition?” Anne said lightly, purposefully playing dumb as she dipped her brush into the green paint. “My doctor says I’m perfectly healthy and fit to work as long as I’m up for it... Alright, you’re done, Beth!” She said, turning her attention to her former student, holding up the mirror for her to look at her handiwork before giving the student a quick hug and sending her on her way. 

“I just wonder if you made the decision that has both you and your student’s best interests in mind.” Mrs. Moore said as Anne swirled the paintbrush in the mason jar of water that sat on the table beside her. 

“I don’t think I understand what you mean.” She said flatly, raising an eyebrow up at the older woman. 

“It’s just that I’ve had several...concerned parents come to me about what message you could be sending to your students, Ms. Shirley-Cuthbert.” She said, giving a pointed look down at Anne’s left hand and Anne fought the urge to first laugh in her face, and second swear a blue streak for insinuating that she would ever do something without her student’s best interests in mind. 

“Well, you can tell those  _ concerned parents  _ that my job is to teach sixth grade English Language Arts, and if they have any concerns that pertain to the content of my class or my methods, then they are more than welcome to speak to me about it directly. Anything else is none of their business, but I appreciate their  _ concern  _ about my  _ condition _ . You can assure them that I am having a perfectly healthy pregnancy, and I intend to be in the classroom with my students right up until I go into labor.” She said, gritting her teeth as she forced a smile up to Mrs. Moore before turning away from her with an air of finality to beckon the next student in line forward. 

Though she put on a mask of indifference at the fall festival, not letting  _ fucking Karen Moore _ know that she had gotten under her skin with her comments, she crumbled that night when she let herself into Gilbert’s place, throwing herself across his lap and burying her face in his chest as she broke down into sobs on his couch. 

“Whoa whoa whoa,” He said, eyes wide in shock. “What’s going on?” 

“I-I-I’m so  _ fucking angry _ !” She sobbed, slamming her fist down onto the pleather couch as she cried into his t-shirt. She had way too many emotions to think rationally, and the fact that she had been reduced to a puddle of tears only made her rage more intense. 

“What happened?” Gilbert asked, his mind still reeling at the flurry of emotion that he had not been expecting. Anne sat up, still sniffling and crying, wiping furiously at her face. 

“ _ Apparently,”  _ She started snidely, practically scoffing as she thought back on the interaction. “There are some parents in the PTO that wonder if I made the best choice for their  _ precious, innocent  _ babies by deciding to teach this year. Because  _ how dare I  _ have the  _ audacity _ to teach when I’m in such a condition! Please! I’m not an idiot, I know exactly what Karen fucking Moore was saying to me. They think I’m a big slut because I’m not married, and who knows what they would think if they knew I wasn’t even with the father! It’s like none of my credentials as a teacher, or the fact that I’m generally a pretty decent person, matters at all now! No, now I’m going to corrupt their children and have them all knocked up before they finish school, obviously! Because apparently  _ this _ -” she gestured wildly to her baby bump. “Means that I’m automatically a bad influence!” 

She finished her rant with an angry shout, chucking a couch cushion across the room where it hit the wall with a loud thud. 

“Karen sounds like she sucks.” Gilbert said, and Anne shouted again, stomping her foot angrily. 

“She does! Who the hell does she think she is? Saying that I’m sending some sort of ‘message’ to my students! I didn’t even tell them I was pregnant until last week, and I haven’t mentioned it since! I’m not walking around flaunting it, and I most certainly am not telling my students to have unprotected sex!” She yelled, pacing back and forth in front of the couch, her heart thundering in her chest from the rage she felt. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been so genuinely upset about something, and she felt like she could break something just to get a little bit of catharsis. 

She stopped pacing when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her from behind, holding her tightly, one arm around her chest as the other hand settled on her belly, rubbing soothing circles right next to her belly button with his thumb. She relaxed just a little bit into the touch, leaning her head back to rest against Gilbert’s shoulder as he pressed a kiss to her temple. 

“I’m sorry people are assholes. You’re a good teacher, and the fact that you’re having a baby in less than conventional circumstances doesn’t change that.” He said softly, holding her for another moment before letting go and nudging her gently for her to turn around. She looked up at him, her blood still simmering with residual anger and annoyance, and she was met with a sweet, tender gaze that made her stomach twist. “But Anne… if you’re worried about not being in a relationship with the baby’s father…” 

“Gilbert, I’m not!” She huffed. “It just pisses me off when literally  _ everyone  _ thinks that we should hop into a relationship because we made a baby together.” 

“But what if I wanted that?” Gilbert said suddenly. 

Anne froze, her blood turning to ice as his words hit her. 

“What?” She asked, her voice surprisingly level considering how shocked she was. The tips of his ears went red, and she watched as Gilbert swallowed nervously. 

“I mean, what if I wanted to see if this,” he gestured between the two of them. “could work out?”

She took a step backwards, away from him. Her head was spinning. The two of them, together? “Are you being serious right now?” She asked in disbelief, her heart thundering in her chest. 

“Yeah, Anne. I am.” 

She took another step backwards. “I- no. No, you’re being ridiculous. That’s a terrible idea.” She said, shaking her head. Gilbert’s face fell slightly, and a wave of nausea rolled over her as she watched his shoulders droop. 

“So you’re saying that the idea hasn’t passed through your head? Not once?” He asked as if he were searching for breadcrumbs. Anne swallowed. 

“No.” She answered, unsure about how honest she was being, but not willing to delve deeper into her mind to sort out what she was feeling. “Gilbert, where is all of this coming from? Is this because of the baby?” 

Gilbert sighed, dropping himself down on the couch and scrubbing a hand over his face. “I mean, maybe? Sort of? I mean, we made a kid together, Anne. You do realize that we’re going to be parents in like, three and a half months? Don’t you think it would be worth it to at least see if we would work out?” 

“But what we have now already works! It’s worked since we were in middle school, why would you want to change it?” She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. “And what you’re doing right now is exactly what I was ranting about literally five minutes ago! I don’t need you to swoop in and date me to ‘make things right’ because you knocked me up, and I don’t want you to think that you have to.” 

Gilbert snorted, rolling his eyes in annoyance as he stood up from the couch, towering over her. “If you think that I’m only asking you out because I feel some sort of obligation because you’re having my son, then I guess you don’t know me near as well as I thought you did. Shame on me, I guess.” He said bitterly, his eyes hard and intense as they stared down at her. 

“What are you talking about?” She asked, nearly crying again at how confused she was. How had things gone sour so quickly? He just shook his head, throwing his hands up in surrender. 

“Nothing. You’re right. I’m being ridiculous. It was stupid. Just forget about it.” He said, dropping his gaze to the floor as he brushed past her, grabbing his hoodie and keys as he headed towards the door, not even looking back at her as he opened the front door. “I have a thing that I need to go to. Lock up on your way out.” 

And with that he was gone, the door closing behind him with a firm pull, leaving Anne in the middle of his living room, wondering how the hell everything had gone so wrong. 

* * *

**10/16/2020**

**[Anne]:** Can we please talk about what happened this afternoon? Because I’m confused as hell 

**[Anne]:** I can’t apologize until you tell me what I did wrong.

**[Gilbert]:** You didn’t do anything wrong. 

**[Gilbert]:** I’m fine, don’t worry about it. 

**[Anne]:** why do I feel like you arent? 

**[Gilbert]:** Please just drop it. I don’t want to talk about it. 

**[Anne]:** Fine, if that's what you want 

**[Gilbert]:** It is. 

* * *

**10/17/2020**

**[Anne]:** Movie night? 

**[Gilbert]:** Can’t, I’ve got plans. 

**[Anne]:** *thumbs up emoji* 

* * *

**10/21/2020**

**[Anne]:** Had a drs. appointment this afternoon, everything’s all good

**[Anne]:** The doctor asked if we wanted to do one of those 3d ultrasounds to see what he looks like, do you want to do that? 

**[Gilbert]:** Sure lmk when and I’ll put it on my calendar. 

**[Gilbert]:** Glad everything’s alright. 

**[Anne]:** Are we alright? 

**[Gilbert]:** _ read 6:13 pm  _

* * *

**10/24/2020**

_ 2:49 pm _

**[Anne]:** Do you want me to pick you up for game night @ Roody’s? I can DD! 

**[Gilbert]:** Can’t make it tonight 

**[Anne]:** okay…. 

**[Anne]:** I hope everything’s alright

* * *

_ 10:17 pm  _

**[Anne]:** Gilbert, will you please talk to me? 

**[Gilbert]:** There isn’t anything to talk about. 

**[Anne]:** Then why have you been giving me the cold shoulder? 

**[Anne]:** You say that you’re fine and that there’s nothing to talk about, but you’ve been ignoring me and it’s not fair

**[Anne]:** Like I said before, I can’t fix anything if I don’t know what I did wrong. 

**[Gilbert]:** I just need time, Anne. 

**[Gilbert]:** And if you really have no idea what you did wrong then maybe you should think about the conversation again. 

**[Anne]:** What the hell is that supposed to mean? 

**[Gilbert]:** Figure it out. 

* * *

_ 11:03 pm  _

**[Anne]:** Are you mad at me? 

**[Gilbert]:** Yes. 

**[Gilbert]:** Happy now? 

**[Anne]:** No. 

**[Gilbert]:** Neither am I, at least we’re on the same page in that regard. 

**[Anne]:** Can I come over? I want to talk about this. 

**[Gilbert]:** No

**[Gilbert]:** I need some space, Anne. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to talk.    
**[Anne]:** Alright. 

* * *

_ 11:57 pm _

**[Anne]:** I’m sorry. 

**[Gilbert]:** Do you know what you’re sorry for? 

**[Anne]:** No

**[Gilbert]:** Then you can’t be sorry. 

**[Gilbert]:** Now please give me space. 

* * *

It had been nearly a month since her fight with Gilbert, though the more she thought back on that afternoon, the more she realized that it wasn’t exactly a fight. There hadn’t been any yelling, no sharp words or slights thrown at the other, yet it felt like the confrontation had driven a wedge between them, and she wasn’t sure how to remove it. 

She had replayed their conversation over and over again in her head, desperately trying to find where she had gone wrong. She had been shocked at Gilbert’s suggestion, completely blindsided by his desire to try a relationship. Hadn’t they talked about that when she first found out she was pregnant? That they would co parent and let that be that? She had thought that they were in agreement, but apparently she had been wrong. And now she felt like she was losing him over it, and she wasn’t sure how to feel. 

All she knew was that she missed Gilbert, and she wasn’t sure what to do. 

She needed someone to listen to her, and to not pass judgement or offer advice without her asking for it, or pretend that they knew Anne better than she knew herself. If she wanted advice, she would ask for it. If she needed someone to point out a missing piece that she hadn’t seen, she would ask for it. And there was only one person she knew that fit that criteria perfectly. 

“Matthew,” Anne said, arms wrapped tightly around herself as she trudged into the barn, feeling as if she could burst into tears at any moment. “I messed up with Gilbert, and I don’t know how to fix it.” 

Matthew looked up from the cow he was tending to, a surprised expression flashing across his face. 

“Oh,” He said simply, nodding once. “Alright, well, you best just tell me everything. Then we’ll go from there.” 

Anne smiled weakly, her heart lifting slightly. She could work with that. 

She jumped into the story then, pacing back and forth across the length of the barn as she talked, hardly paying attention to Matthew as she did so. She knew that if she were to spare a glance in his direction that he would be watching her intently and listening carefully to everything she had to say. 

When she said her piece she plopped herself down onto the steps to the hayloft with a heavy sigh, dropping her head into her hands. 

“Matthew, could you please use your infinite wisdom to help me?” She asked with a pout, not looking up as he settled down next to her on the step, his large, warm hand settling over her back. 

“I don’t know about infinite wisdom.” He chuckled, rubbing her back slowly. “But it sounds to me like this...arrangement you two have might not be what Gilbert wants anymore.” 

“What more could he want? He has everything except a relationship!” Anne cried in exasperation.

“Think about what you just said, Anne, and you’ll have your answer.” Matthew chuckled, and Anne huffed, setting her chin in her hands as the glaring truth that she had been avoiding hit her like a freight train. 

“But why would he want to be in a relationship with me? I told him there’s no need for us to do this just because of the baby. I don’t want that, because what if we try it and it doesn’t work? Right now things are good… or at least they  _ were  _ good before Gilbert said anything. I don’t want anything to change, because what if something goes horribly wrong? And I lose my best friend and the baby loses his dad?” 

“The baby’s never going to lose him,” Matthew said firmly. “Gilbert’s a good man, he’s not going to leave his son. But _ you _ could lose him, Anne, and that’s what you should be concerned about.” 

She sighed, dragging the toe of her sneaker through the hay and dirt, eyebrows knitted together in thought. Her mind felt like it was spinning even more than it had been. 

“I don’t want to lose him.” She finally said. “But I don’t want anything to change. Why can’t things just be as they always have?” 

Matthew offered her a smile, squeezing her shoulder gently. “Things changed when the two of you made the decision that led to my grandson, however accidental it might have been.” 

What could that mean? The sex was just sex, isn’t that what they had said? That’s how it had always been in her mind at least, and while she knew that she and Gilbert were definitely not on the same page anymore, she was beginning to wonder if they were even in the same book. Was the disconnect between them even wider than she had first believed? 

“I need to talk to him, if he’ll even let me.” She sighed, pushing herself up from the step with a grunt, her lower back screaming at her for sitting on the hard surface for so long. 

“You should, and he will.” Matthew agreed, shaking his head. “But for now, you should stay for dinner. I’m sure Marilla’s seen your car by now, and she’ll be cross if you don’t stay and visit for at least a little while.” 

Dinner she could do. She was starving, and she knew Marilla would feed her well and send her home with leftovers. She didn’t have to think about accepting the offer, and she was thankful for that. Her family, at least, was something she didn’t have to think and worry about. 

* * *

She didn’t text him before she showed up at his place, not wanting to run the risk of him ghosting her or leaving her on read (again). His car was in the driveway and the lights were on, letting her know that he was home, and she hated how much her hands trembled with anxiety as she let herself into the house. 

“Gilbert?” She called, shucking her coat and kicking off her sneakers, still flaked with mud and hay from the barn. She heard the distant sound of water running, and knew that there was no way to make her presence known without scaring the hell out of him if he was in the shower. She sighed, wishing things could go her way for just once, calling his name loudly to give him some sort of warning as she made her way towards the bathroom, sliding inside and shutting the door behind her. 

The shower curtain was ripped open when the door closed, a panicked look in Gilbert’s eyes, and he relaxed slightly when he saw that it was just Anne. 

“What the hell are you doing here?” He said with a heavy sigh, a few suds still lingering in his hair. 

“I thought if I texted you telling you I wanted to talk, you wouldn’t respond.” She said weakly. Gilbert snorted, his shoulders rising and falling with a quick shrug. 

“There’s a fifty-fifty chance I wouldn’t have.” He answered honestly, and Anne felt her heart crack a little bit. She wanted her best friend back, and the divide between them felt much bigger than the five feet that stood between them in that moment. 

Without a word, she began stripping off her clothes, kicking them into a haphazardly pile as Gilbert watched on with a confused look as she pulled the shower curtain and stepped into the shower with him. 

“What are you doing, Anne?” He asked, sounding more tired than anything else. She bit down on the inside of her cheek, trying to hold back her tears as she looked up at him. 

“I know you’re mad at me, but I miss you. I miss movie nights and cuddling, and talking all night, and getting texts with stupid memes.” She said, her lower lip trembling pitifully. “And I want to talk about what happened, because I think I understand.” 

Gilbert reached up, his eyes soft as he brushed a piece of hair behind her ear. 

“Alright, we can talk.” He said at last, and Anne felt a heavy weight fall from her shoulder as she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, clutching onto him tightly, his body warm and solid against hers. His hands fell to her stomach, spanning over the soft skin of her bump as he tucked his face into the crook of her neck. 

“Can we talk in a minute? I just want to hold you for a little while.” She asked, and she felt him chuckle against her skin, sending warmth through her body all the way to the tips of her toes. 

“Yeah, we can talk once we’re out of the shower.” He said, rubbing her belly softly. “You’ve gotten bigger since I last saw you.” 

“Yeah,” She said with a soft chuckle, scratching his back lightly. “He started moving last week, but you won’t be able to feel it from the outside.” 

“Really? That’s so cool.” Gilbert said as he pulled away from her neck, a bright smile on his face that made her heart skip a beat. There was something about the way he looked in that moment, his hair wet and messy, plastered down to his forehead in some places yet sticking up in a million different directions in others. His cheeks were flushed from the hot water, and a bead of water ran down his collarbones, her eyes followed it as it raced down the planes of his chest and raced to the floor of the shower, and suddenly she didn’t want to procrastinate the talk anymore. 

“You want to be with me.” She said bluntly, surprisingly herself with her lack of tact. Gilbert’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline as she spoke, and she rushed to continue before he could butt in. “You want to be with me, and it’s not because of the baby. Maybe you wanted to before I got pregnant, that I’m still not one hundred percent sure on.” 

Gilbert swallowed nervously, nodding once after a long, nerve wracking moment. 

“But you don’t feel the same. Or at least that’s what it sounded like when we talked the other day.” Gilbert said, and Anne bit her lip. 

“I don’t know what I feel, Gil.” She said with a sigh. “Here I was thinking we were on the same page, and suddenly it feels like we aren’t even in the same library. I got confused- and frankly, I’m still confused...but I don’t want for us to go back to ignoring each other and being hurt and upset.” 

“I don’t want that either.” Gilbert agreed, rubbing up and down her arms lightly, leaving goosebumps in his wake. “Come on, let’s finish this conversation in bed, before we run my water bill up.” 

They finished showering quickly, giving playful glances and fleeting touches, and for a moment Anne felt like they were back to how they used to be, but the gravity of the conversation that was looming over their heads kept her from truly reveling in the lighthearted teasing. 

Once they were dried, dressed, and under the thick duvet in Gilbert’s room the atmosphere shifted, and the weight of the situation settled over them. 

“How long have you had feelings for me?” Anne asked, tired of the frustration that their miscommunication had brought upon them. She just wanted honesty and clarity so they could move forward. 

“A while.” Gilbert said. “If you wanted a time frame...maybe my senior year of high school? Somewhere in there, though it's been so long that I can’t tell you for sure.” 

“Really?” Anne asked in disbelief, and Gilbert nodded. “Then why did you want to start sleeping together, knowing that it would only be casual?” 

“Because we had really good sex,” He answered with a chuckle and a shrug, and Anne conceded to his point. He wasn’t wrong about that. “And maybe part of me hoped that you might feel the same way.” 

“I don’t know what I feel, Gil.” She answered honestly, looking up at him to meet his gaze, his dark eyes fixed on hers. “You know I don’t like things changing, and a lot of things have been changing lately, and it scares the shit out of me. I guess what I meant when we talked is that this…  _ us _ , is simple. And I thought that it would be the one thing that would stay consistent, but then you said you wanted to change things-” 

“But think about it Anne, what would change?” He asked earnestly, reaching out to grab her arm lightly. “We hang out, we cuddle, we do things together just the two of us. We have sex, I stay the night, you make breakfast in the morning. That’s a relationship, Anne. All that would change is putting a name to it.” 

“But putting a name to it means that it could end. We could break up, and I lose you. And then what about the baby?” She asked, her biggest fears finally coming to the light. Gilbert pressed his lips together, nodding as he listened to her concerns, squeezing her arm lightly. 

“Then we explain to him when he’s old enough that we tried to make it work, but couldn’t. If it’s reassurance you need, then I’ll tell you this. You’re my son’s mother, I will always respect you, no matter what our relationship status is. But wouldn’t you rather give it a try and if it doesn’t work out we have to explain to him why it didn’t work out, rather than telling him that we never tried in the first place? Also, you’re going straight to the worst case scenario. What if we got together, and nothing changed, and if things  _ did  _ change, it was for the better? And then we have our son, and each other, and we’re happy? What about that Anne?” 

It wasn’t something she had thought about before, her penchant for self-preservation not even allowing her to entertain the idea of a world where Gilbert and her worked out for the better, rather than blowing up in her face. Her heart thudded in her chest at the thought of nothing changing, yet everything changing at the same time. She bit down on her lip, looking up at Gilbert as the baby started fluttering and moving around, as if he was pushing her to make the decision that frightened her. Could they work out? Could they really be a family? 

She supposed she wouldn’t know unless she took the leap of faith. 

“Alright,” She said, swallowing her nerves as she scooted closer to Gilbert, wrapping an arm around his waist. “Let’s give it a go.” 

  
  



End file.
